Ground Zero

Well, life has been going swimmingly :D  We've been able to road trip most weekends, and we're remembering all the things we LOVE so much about the south!  Work is going great, finally getting fully integrated with my co workers.  It takes a while for a new person to come in and get a new routine established, but I think we've got it down now.  We've been to North Carolina twice, down the Tail of the Dragon 3 times, and we've finally begun to conquer the Blue Ridge Parkway.  We drove the Hwy 1 in CA all the way from start to finish, our goal is now BRP from start to finish.  It begins in NC and goes through West Virginia, finishing in Virginia.  This weekend, my inlaws were up and we went to Cades Cove for the first time in 6 or 7 years.  Cades Cove is this beautiful little protected valley area surrounded by the Smoky Mtns in the heart of the SM National Park. It has an 11 mile driving loop, and you can go explore all these old cabins and primitive churches.  It was fun!

The Greenway

Turtles!

I'm considering today to be "ground zero".  I have hit post partum bottom, and I'm ready to not be a fat blob any more.  I'm fully healed, my baby is big enough that if necessary, I can throw his little butt in his jogging stroller, and even though I work M-F, I have early mornings, late evenings, and weekends to Make it Happen!  I've tried a few times to post pics for accountability since I did my FIRST time, and I've failed miserably, so now I'm buckling down and being accountable.  No more donuts/soda/fast food burgers.  My water intake has dwindled and my coffee/wine intake has doubled.  I'm young and healthy and my feet have started to hurt every day which tells me I'm TOO HEAVY :(  I'm 5'2, I need to be somewhere south of 150, not barely south of 200.  I got down to about 146 before I moved and got fat again, so now that we're here, we're not going anywhere else for many, many years.  I have plenty of time to get back to where I was and work on maintenance this time.

Inside the city of Maryville

Cool bird

I've done Couch to 5K a few times around my new neighborhood and while I LOVE the app, it trains you to get to 5 miles by 3x weekly half hour walk/runs.  In half an hour, I'm only going MAYBE 1 1/2 miles, tops.  So today I figured out where the Maryville/Alcoa Greenway is, and did the week 1 Cto5K run 60 sec/walk 90 sec for a full 3 miles and change.  It felt good; it was only the 2nd time since Colton was born that I've done my 3 miles.  My plan is run 3 x a week, and shoot yet again to do Piyo the other 2 days.  Insanity is SO insane, I just have to work up to it. The last thing I want to do is start and stall again, so I want to establish a routine for the next 60 days so I get into the habit like I did 4 years ago.  Here's my "ground zero" pics, they're awful to me.  I hate it when my gut is all ugly and fat.  I REALLY want to slim my legs down so I can maybe actually wear REAL shorts next summer, not capris that hide most of my leg.  Here's to trying!

Frankly, my dear ... no one really gives a damn

Week 2 down.  What is really interesting about being back in the south is how truly nice and polite everyone is.  I mean, even more so than in GA.  It's SO weird, I'm not used to it!  I love CA for the landscape, but the people leave a LOT to be desired.  My work peeps were far and away the nicest people I dealt with in the entire 3 years I lived there.  I had to get off at "the merge of death" every day; I mean, NO ONE would yield and give you more than an inch of space to bully your way in.  I almost wrecked on more than one occasion.  On the streets here in TN, people not only yield and let you over, they will slow down and wave you on!  That does NOT happen in CA.  In fact, on a very memorable trip to Tahoe, we were trying to make a left turn across traffic.  Some jerkoff pulled up and closed a very small gap that we could have squeezed in to turn ACROSS him, not even trying to get in front of him.  Burns my blood just thinking about it, lol.

A couch full of Bishops

The other day, I bumped into a lady in Kroger.  She turned around, grabbed my arm, and said, "Oh Honey, I'm so sorry!  Excuse me!"  Again, in CA, people will run you over like you are taking up their God given real estate with nary a sideways glance.  TN peeps are very ... country, and I love it!

Neyland Stadium

One thing I haven't missed at ALL is the heat and humidity.  Ugh.  Back to sweating just by walking outside!  We've ridden into Pigeon Forge to eat at the Paula Deen restaurant ... OMGosh, DIVINE!  And yesterday we went into Gatlinburg to eat at the Log Cabin Pancake house.  Again, DIVINE!  We side-tripped to Knoxville to visit UT.  Got to go in the gate and take a few pics of the field; I think Kody may actually go there after all which would be so awesome.  When he was just a baby, I joked that I needed to go ahead and buy the UT diploma frame for him :D  We'll see what happens!

David and I have settled into the new jobs.  Not gonna lie, I miss the rapport that I had with my CA crew, but all the girls at the new place are very nice and outgoing and have been very welcoming.  It's hard adjusting to a new way of doing things, but I've had a lot of ideas to help things run smoother, and hopefully they will!  Love the Dr, she's super nice and of course does great work.  My drive into work is absolutely beautiful with amazing views of the Smokeys.  I've never spent much time in the town of Maryville, and I have to say that I am absolutely in LOVE with it.  Such a gorgeous little foothills mountain town with that small town feel to it.  I can definitely see us living out a LONG time here.  Our house here has a fabulous fenced in back yard, and a PANTRY!  It's weird because the kitchen is almost identical to our Cartersville house ... deja vu!

View on my way into work

Colton went through a little bit of a rough patch over the last 2 weeks; the time change threw off his sleep routine, and he's been up late several times a night.  FINALLY, the last 2 days have been better.  He slept well, and is starting to get back into his routine.  SO grateful.  The cross country drive went well, and Yellowstone is every bit as beautiful as I guessed it would be.  So happy and blessed to be here, can't wait to see how life pans out in the next few years :)

The drive into Pigeon Forge

Finally showing some smiles!

Yes, it's pink.  Don't judge!

8 Weeks and counting ...

I just want to say a heartfelt thank you to all of my friends that have called/texted/messaged me after my last blog post.  I'm not going to lie, I have at times felt very alone out here on the other side of the country and I have missed what I have almost come to think of as my "former" friends.  It was really nice to reconnect a little bit; sad that it was because I was at my breaking point, but it showed me that when you really need your people, they're there for you.

Bodega Bay

That being said, little man seems to have turned a small corner.  While still not able to be put down a whole heck of a lot without fussing, he isn't fussing every waking second any more.  We've had about 3 days in the last 2 weeks that have been wine drinking inducing, but for the most part I've started to see a happier baby.  We've taken day trips to Mt. Diablo, Yosemite, and Bodega Bay.  Yosemite was the final road trip in casts, yay!

He never cried whenever they sawed the casts off

Last Monday, he came out of the plaster and into the  "boots and bar", referred to as "bnb".  That has come with it's own set of challenges, including stressing every second of the day whether or not his heel is "down" in the shoe.  He had a tendon surgery where they cut the Achilles to gain more flexibility in the ankle.  The final set of casts held his foot in more of an upright position for 3 weeks, and the bnb is supposed to maintain both that flexibility and the turned out foot position.  The feet are now fully corrected, the bnb just maintains that correction.  If they're constantly falling off his feet, or his heel isn't down, he can lose it and relapse, making more casting necessary.  Some kids even have to undergo another tendon surgery.  I do NOT want to have to go through all that!  The happiest part of his day is the hour where he has naked legs.  Tonight, he was getting a little fussy and we got him naked and he was HAPPY baby.  Makes it so tempting to not "comply with treatment", but that's just asking for a relapse, so we follow the protocol.

Fully corrected feet

It's been a challenging road so far, but no one ever promised raising children is easy.  In fact, raising kids is pretty damn hard, I don't care who you are.  Each one has their own sets of challenges, and we're dealing with ours.  There are some SUPER exciting things coming up for us soon, God has been working on us!  With every challenge comes equal blessings, and I'll be excited to share more on that soon.  Please keep praying for us; we have a checkup at Shriner's on Monday; please pray his correction is holding and that his boots get broken in enough that they're not constantly sliding off his feet.  The bar is a little heavy, but we chose this over the Ponsetti bar b/c the Ponsetti bar has zero movement whatsoever and I've read so much about kids that just REALLY don't tolerate it well at all.  His Dobbs bar is spring loaded and has enough independent movement that he can bend one leg at the time.  The downfall is the weight of it wants to pull off the boots.  Of course, we're fighting with fat, soft little baby feet and new, stiff, slippery boots.  His poor little ankles have deep red grooves when he gets his rest hour, but by the time we put them back on that's gone.  Good I suppose?  Only 4 more years to be concerned about it.  Oh well, like I said, we'll focus on the blessings ... :)

Day 1 of bnb

Getting in a routine

One week in ... a birth story

That dang IV was very uncomfortable ...

Perfect little Buddha Baby

Not sure how "normal" things are yet, but we're trying to find our rhythm.  Feeling pretty good, but trying hard not to overdo things and keep it slow ... dishes in the sink and a few loads of laundry sitting around are not the end of the world.  Interesting how different my first and second birth "stories" are.

Amazing eye lashes

With Kody, I went in around 7:00 in the evening, was given Pitocin, and labored until about ... 7:00 the following evening.  After the endless cervix checks, it was determined that labor was just NOT progressing, and they decided to do a C-section.  Recovery was HARD.  I was told to remove the bandage from the incision the following day on my own, and when I did, I took off about 4 layers of skin along with it.  An allergic reaction to the adhesive along with extreme "dermal bonding" resulted in me feeling like a burn victim for about 3-4 weeks; HORRIBLE.

Alert and awake

With Colton, we arrived around 7:30 for my scheduled 10:00 surgery (in the morning).  Right away, I was taken into a small room where I was given the ubiquitous hospital gown and quizzed on my "adhesive allergy".  The doctor discussed with me at length about how to cover the incision after surgery, and it was finally decided that they would use a clear dressing called "Tega Derm" (or something of the sort).  It was also decided they would do a spinal vs an epidural this time since my epidural fell out not once, but TWICE when I was in with Kody.  If the spinal didn't work, they'd knock me out w/ General.  I saw a nurse who finished the "prep work", met my doctor for the first time who would do my surgery , was prepped by my anesthesiologist, and was accompanied the whole time by a second doctor, the one that was concerned over my allergy.

Precious Angel

They wheeled me into the OR about an hour early.  HUGE room with bright white walls and literally full of people already.  They'd pumped me with saline, anti-nausea meds, and antiboitics already in the IV.  I walked into the OR, and got situated on the gurney.  BP cuff, pulse monitor taped on, and an endless flow of people in and out of my room.  I got into position for the part I dreaded the most; the application of the spinal.  I remembered the epidural wasn't 'that' bad, and I'd endured that through horrid contractions.  This time, I wasn't plagued with that 'problem'.  I bent over, he applied the cool wipe to my spine, then began poking around.  Um, it was AWFUL!  He kept saying, "A little poke and a burn".  LITTLE MY A$$!  He was joined by a second anesthesiologist and she began giving her opinion as to where to insert the giant needle.  They were both having a lot of trouble b/c right in the ideal spot to put it is my lower curve in my spine.  I have an "S" curve that's about 30 degrees, and it was wreaking havoc on proper needle placement.  I was stuck one time, and my left knee contracted like I'd been hit with a reflex hammer!  Just as I was beginning to feel pretty over it, they were happy with placement and I began to feel a spreading numbness through my lower extremities.  They got me properly laid down and raised the sterile drape in front of me.  THEN, things got bad ...

They're worth all the pain and the "trouble"

My BP bottomed out big time.  While they were trying to do my spinal, Dr. Phelps was telling me how they will pull the baby out, then put him on my chest for some skin on skin time.  They'd take their time, make things "nice and neat", and all would be well.  I felt pretty awful once I was laid down.  I'd thrown up at this point with Kody, but this time, I felt as though I couldn't breathe.  I was hot, I couldn't focus on anything, I couldn't breathe, and I started to pray.  I asked God to first and foremost let me live.  Then to have Him stop the awfulness that had all of a sudden become my life.  Monitors started beeping and I heard the words "Fetal decel".  All of a sudden, people jumped into action and my bed was tilted pretty dramatically to the left.  My BP slowly came up, but Colton's heart rate wasn't.  Dr. Phelps apologized to me and said things were going to happen a little faster than they'd anticipated, and everyone jumped into action.  David hadn't even been allowed into the room yet.

Heading to big brother's play

The surgery was a blur.  I remember feeling absolutely NO pain (yay!) except when it took two, TWO additional people pushing so hard on my ribs I felt like they were going to break to get the little booger lower down and out of my ribs.  David was finally by my side, and he was absolutely fascinated by the tugging and pulling going on down there.  He told me when Colton was almost there, then he was out!  I didn't feel it at ALL.  With Kody, I could tell when they'd pulled him out, but with Colton it was just the feel of tapping on my belly.  David went with the baby to the warming table, and they kept working on me.  The doctor was able to actually remove my Fallopian tubes, they weren't sure they'd be able to without knowing how much scar tissue was in there.  I tried to just close my eyes and chill, but it seemed like it took forever.  David all of a sudden appeared with Colton.  Oh. My. Goodness.  He was a perfect little doll baby.  Smooth unblemished skin, perfect little mouth, nose, and ears ... eyes closed and quiet as a mouse.  I got to touch him, and then my boys were gone while I was finished up.

Yep ... sleep when baby sleeps!

Dr Phelps again appeared in my line of sight, and she apologized for things getting a little "dramatic", but time was of the essence.  All went well with his 'extraction', all was good with my tubal, and things were looking great!  Upon my arrival at Recovery, I was freezing in my right arm.  The doctor that had been with me at prep had been with me all through surgery and now through recovery.  My temp was extremely low, so she piled on about 4 warming blankets.  WOW, that felt SO good!  Once I'd had about half an hour to stabilize, David, Kody, and Colton came in.  I guzzled down a cup of water about 30 seconds before the doctor told me to sip it.  Ooops, lol.  They brought me another one and I guzzled it too.  I was THIRSTY.  After about an hour total, I was wheeled to my room and left alone once my vitals were taken again.

Memaw holding her grandson at big grandson's play

The rest of the stay was a blur of nurses for me, nurses for Colton, lactation consultants, Pediatricians, etc. etc.  Colton was 7 lbs, 15 1/2 oz and 18 1/4 inches long.  Compared to Kody's 8 lbs, 7 oz and 20 inches long.  Colton was born at 9:27 in the morning; Kody at 8:17 in the evening.  They typically like to keep C-section patients for 3 days, but on Sunday I was campaigning to go home.  The nurses were VERY surprised, but said I seemed well enough to go.  There was a small delay with Colton about mid afternoon because he was showing a small amount of jaundice and my bloodwork had come back with antibodies against him in it, so they had to do some additional testing.  Finally around 6:30 in the evening, we got the all clear and around 7:45 we had all the necessary discharge papers.  I walked, yes WALKED out of the hospital.  It was hell, but I did it.

The sleep of angels

So far, recovery has been very good.  The Tega Derm worked AMAZING, and my incision has looked GREAT.  By Wednesday I could laugh a little without wanting to cry, and by today (Sunday), I can sit up with the baby on my chest from a lying down position.  I still feel a fair amount of pain in the usual moving around/day to day stuff  but I know that will improve.  Tomorrow will be my first day 100% alone.  David was with me all week, but he's back to work tomorrow :(  So far so good, one day at a time adjusting to life again with a newborn!  Sorry for the novel, wanted to get all the details down before they escaped my memory.  Wish I'd really logged Kody's birth like this, but things were different 14 years ago.  Thanks for reading, will try to keep up!  No food plan this week, we've been eating a LOT of fast food the past 2 weeks.  Hopefully I can get back on routine by the latter part of the week.

Why yes, we did go into San Fran at 5 days old ...

Just ... wow

I'm not even sure I know where to begin.  This crazy journey called Life is progressing on a track I'm not sure I ever saw coming.  For the most part, I have stopped living my life through facebook and other social media sites.  Losing 2 of my best friends over a stupid internet spat made me realize that REALITY is not always virtual.  So not only do I not post on the horse board that got me in trouble, I really don't even go there to "lurk" much any more.  The down side is that I've disconnected from the horse side of things ... for now.  The up side is that I've been focusing on other things.  Apart from posting "day trip" pics on Instagram and then sharing to facebook, I don't do much other than read what my "friends" have to say on a daily basis.

The bottom line is this; life is changing BIG time for us, again :)  And yes, it's a good change, it's an AMAZING change!  I didn't think for a second that life would go in this direction, but it is what it is.  For one thing, some months ago, my husband and I made a decision to stop birth control.  I just turned 36 in February, and here I was still taking BC pills every day.  I HATE the pill, I don't ever want to take it again, but ANY other method of BC other than "permanent" isn't an option for me.  So, the question was, have a permanent procedure, or stop the Pill and see what happens?  Well, we chose the latter and now I'm expecting!

I don't question God, EVER.  His plan is what it is, I just try to have the courage to follow along and be involved in it.  My due date is April 6.  Only 12 weeks along, so no idea if girl or boy.  We WILL find out, for sure.  Kody and David are both happy and excited; yes, there's a feeling of being ... overwhelmed.  That combined with the task of moving in July with a NEWBORN is a daunting feeling, but I know we'll come through it with flying colors :D

There will be no grand facebook announcements, no ultrasound pics posted, no pics/updates from the hospital.  Anything I have to say, I'll say right here on my very own blog that only the people that are interested in what I have to say will check out.  Yes, I'll post links, but again ... only those that actually care about me and my family will share in my happy news.

Horses will once again be taking a backseat in my life and I am ok with that.  No matter where I am, no matter what's happening in my life, horses will always be there for me to get back to when I'm ready.  Happily, I've been feeling great, no morning sickness thus far (knock on wood).  My OB says I SHOULD be past that stage, so we'll see.  It's going to be a challenge being out here with no family, but I'm VERY hopeful my sister is going to come out and be with me for a week or so.  The only bummer is I won't get to enjoy the hot tub this winter!  :(  Oh well, there are worse things in life, lol.

Stay tuned for updates.  I don't have another OB appt until November, which is when we SHOULD find out the sex.  So happy and excited for this turn in our life, and we're just trusting in God to lead us along the way.

Your public life and your private life

After church today

So today's sermon was interesting.  As Pastor said, not terribly deep, but certaintly contemplation-worthy.  I think doing selfless things is hard.  By nature, most of us are pretty selfish; in today's age of living our lives on facebook, we tend to advertise when we do something nice for someone.  A facebook friend recently posted a pic of a good deed they did for someone.  Why?  For a pat on the back?  So everyone can tell you how great and clever you are, and gee you're SUCH a humanitarian?

In the story of Joshua, God tells him to build 2 memorials using 12 rocks.  One, on the other side of the River Jordan to commemorate the momentous crossing of the river.  The other was to be a personal, private memorial in the MIDDLE of the River Jordan, underneath the water that only Joshua and God knew about.  Our public lives are important; how we present ourselves, the example we lead for other people, how we act, etc.  But our private lives are JUST as important.  Do you spend more time getting your hair and makeup right for church than you do preparing your heart and mind to hear God's Word?

What happnes in your private life sets the stage for your public one.

Matthew 6:3 says when you do something nice for someone, you will be openly rewarded by God when you do it in PRIVATE.  So, if you give money, help them out, whatever, you will be rewarded by Him when you DON'T go around bragging about it.

Matthew 6:6 says when you pray "in secret", literally go into a closet to pray, you will be openly rewarded for it.

Mathew 6:18 says if you fast, do it and then don't tell everyone about it expecting pats on the back.  It's between you and God.  When you fast, you don't show it to the world.

I've known quite a few self-righteous women with long hair that wear skirts that think they're superior to us short haired, pants wearing sinners.  They may LOOK right on the outside, but that self-righteous attitude tells the world they're NOT right on the inside.  God know you, ALL of you, 100% of you.  He knows your motivations, your reasons, your everything.  You don't need to go posting pics of you doing nice things in the hopes that maybe it'll go viral in order to feel a sense of accomplishment.

God LOVES you.  Work on your outward appearance, but also work on your private thoughts and motivations.  DO good deeds and nice things, but be secure enough in your self that you do it for NO other reason than to help someone else out.  What you sow here on Earth is what you will reap in Heaven.

Catching up!

Mt Lassen!

Well, I've been working on experiencing life the past 2 weeks, sorry I haven't blogged so much :)  Had quite a lot going on, so I've been fairly busy.  My awesome SIL Stef came out last week; it was amazing.  She was SO happy to be out here, I didn't get to pick her up at the airport, but I heard she cried when she saw David and Kody;)  Sadly, the Saturday she was here fell on a Saturday I had to work, so they got up SUPER early and drove south to LA for the day.  That was fine with me because I'm not all that enamored with So Cal.  I mean, I like San Diego, but that's about it.  I'm all about my gorgeous Nor Cal!  So, I worked (and had a HORRIBLE day), but on Sunday we got to go back to Lassen volcano, and we found us a new state park to go in with this AMAZING waterfall.  It was so darn beautiful, AND we got to hike a teeny little mile long trail, yay :)  Steffie  and the boys aren't so keen on hiking, so I was grateful the trail wasn't too intense for them.  From there, we went to Redding and walked through Turtle Bay and the Sundial bridge.

Kody got baptized today!  I'm so proud of him :)  He was ready to do it, and he was super excited about it.  Praise God!  I was actually quite disappointed to miss out on church last Sunday, but when Stef comes back over Christmas, she will be here a little over a week, so we will get to take her to church.  We just had so far to drive on Sunday, we couldn't fit it in.  Today was great, as usual.  We were talking about "once saved, always saved", but you should still live a "good" life because even though you may GO to heaven, if you don't live right you won't have much when you get there.  Interesting as always!

David's birthday was Friday, and we went to dinner last night out in Roseville where he works.  He works in a REALLY nice shopping center, and it was just awesome to spend some time enjoying the gorgeous weather and the great company.  We ate at a restaurant called the Yard House, and we fully enjoyed it.  Definitely on our list to go back to.  From there we went to the mall and wandered around a little bit, and today has just been church/chill day.  I went to the park and ran 6 miles again.  Boy, it was WINDY; gusts up to 30 mph.  My hands were FREEZING by the time I got home.  I ran a little further than last time.  2 weeks ago, I alternated walk/run each mile, so I ran 3/walked 3.  Today, I ran 3 in a row, walked one, then ran one, then walked the last so I actually ran 4/walked 2 yay me!

Ok, here's what I'm going to do.  I intend to post a pic of me in an outfit I want to look GOOD in.  My favorite jeans (when they fit) and a white t shirt.  My jeans are so tight they gave me an ugly muffin top.  So, to keep me accountable, I'm posting my pics of me in that outfit.  HOPEFULLY I will look better in it by next month.  It worked the first time, so hopefully it will work now.

Eww.  Nice muffin top!

Making those seams scream:(

Side never looks quite as bad

Alrighty then!  A month from now, that should look MUCH better.  I know myself.  I HAVE to have accountability.  Posting these pics holds me accountable.  When I don't do that, I don't care.  I do NOT want to be like a wonderful person I know.  She was pretty overweight, no big deal.  Went on a diet, lost SO much weight, she looked absolutely amazing; like a completely different person.  In fact, she was one of my inspirations for losing my weight!  Fast forward a year; I've lost 45 lbs and look so much better.  I see this person, and she's right back to where she was :(  She tells me, Hey!  You look great!  Don't be like me; I lost 60 lbs, then gained 80!  Sad.  I don't want to do that.  I got RID of all my fat clothes, I REFUSE to buy fat clothes again.  I know I may gain some, but I CAN and WILL lose it again.  The key is moderation, and awareness of the problem.  I have to jump on it as soon as I sense the weight creeping on (like now).  Small goals.  Keep active.  Cut the sugar (again).  Smaller portions.  I can do this, and I will do this!  Love y'all, will post again sooner than 2ish weeks, I promise.:)  Have a great week!

Feeling the burn ...

Me and the nutty buddy on the way to Santa Cruz

Well, it's my favorite time.  The day 2.  Huh?  The day 2 after starting an exercise program.  I was sore on day 2 after my first run here in CA.  That quickly went away.  I haven't been sore from swimming, interestingly.  I thought my shoulders would hurt but no, they've been good.  I went Insane yesterday ... and I am SORE today.

I'm starting the new program by Insanity's founder Shaun T, T25.  It's an exercise program that's like a scaled down version of Insanity, but as effective.  It's 5 days a week vs 6 (I hate to have to "work out" on the weekends.  I'm perfectly happy to go on a long walk or a hike or something, but I don't want to have to 'work out'), and it's 25 minutes a day.  Even month 1 in the Insanity program is a MINIMUM of 39 minutes.  Now granted, that 39 minutes includes a warm up, stretch, and cool down, but still ... when you're lazy by nature, it's hard to get motivated to sweat for 39 minutes (minimum).  T25 starts you out with a low impact exercise, gradually working you up to higher impact ... and you never stop moving.  For 25 minutes, your body is moving.  WOW!  I loved it.  I sweated hard core, I breathed hard, and I loved it.  Today ... I am sore in every muscle of my body.  I didn't even do a single push up/plank exercise at all, and my arms/back/shoulders are screaming at me today.  Not looking forward to day 2 because of the soreness, but I learned and will head straight to the pool once I'm finished!  I will swim probably half what I've been swimming (700 yards) for today, then soak in the hot tub for my poor muscles.  Tomorrow, I will do my workout, then do a walk/run for 3 miles.  I'll work back up to running 3 miles + plus doing the T25; since I've been so lazy I don't want to overdo things and hurt myself, so I'll work up gradually.  I've only done day 1 of the T25, and so far, 2 thumbs up!

In other fitness news, I'm feeling ever so slightly stronger swimming.  I've estimated my pool to be roughly 14 yards long, so to do my 700 yard sets, I have to do 4 sets of 7 laps, take a break, 4 sets of 4 laps, break, then 4 sets of 2 laps.  By lap 5, second set ... I feel like I'm drowning!  My butt starts to sink, I inhale water as I breathe, and my head comes way too far out of the water.  The short break allows me to recoup a little bit, then I'm good until about lap 5 again.  I'm comfortable for the 4 laps in a row, but laps 5-7 are really tough.  I'm pushing through, though, and I'm sure that doing the T25 will really help me, just like Insanity did with my running.

In running news, it is a HUGE struggle to run 2 1/2 miles straight.  I don't know if it's the fact that most of the running is flat, or on sidewalk, or what.  My neighborhood had hills, which means UP, but it also meant DOWN, which was awesome.  My new track around the apartment here is all flat, which means there's no downhill relief ... maybe that's it?  I need to find some new shoes as well, I think.  My issue isn't that I'm breathing too hard, like it used to be.  My cardio is FINE; it's my feet and legs that start to really hurt after about 1 1/2 miles.  My right shoe keeps trying to rub a hole in the side of my big toe, and it is just flat out uncomfortable.  I have another pair of running shoes I could use again to run in (I've been wearing them just "out and about"), but the problem with THOSE is that my middle toe on my left foot goes numb when I run in them, which is why I demoted them from being my 'running' shoes.  So, I don't know.  My goal is a sprint triathalon THIS year, before January.  My sis and I are going to do the Lavaman tri in Hawaii in 2015, and that is Olympic length, so I need to get in at least 3 sprint length tris before then.  The run is typically 5K length, and the swim is 750m, which I can DO; not comfortably right now, but it's doable.  So, I will continue to train, I will get a bike once employment is settled and begin THAT part of the training.  Right now I can concentrate on running and swimming, which is enough :)

Back to reality

Well.  Once again, we had a completely amazing trip to the West Coast.  We left Thursday a week ago, and flew into McCarren airport, which is in Las Vegas.  We stayed in the New York New York casino, which was pretty cool.  The shower head was AWFUL, but the room was nice:)  We went out that evening after dinner, and in the interest of walking off our dinner trekked about 6 miles down the strip!  My poor hubby; he's not used to all that walking:)  We went into the MGM Grand/Venitian/Ceasar's Palace/Bellagio/Mirage. We went through a bunch of the shops/malls this time and got to walk through a Peter Lik art gallery, which was AWESOME!

Upon waking, we hopped in the car and drove Southwest to Carlsbad, CA.  Carlsbad is about 30 mins north of San Diego.  We stayed in a resort right across the street from the ocean called the Tamarack.  It too had a sucky shower head, agh!  Lol.  We had dinner right there next door, then went out once again to walk in downtown Carlsbad, which is a really cool little beach town.  Everyone ... and I mean, EVERYONE was either running, or riding a bike:)  The Ironman triathalon was in town for the following day, so we got out of there Saturday and headed to downtown San Diego.  We walked through the city (which was a MUCH bigger city than I'd anticipated), and had lunch outside at a place called Nicky Rottens, which was neat.  I had my very first chili burger; I cut it in half and ONLY ate half of it;)  We purchased a few souveniers for family members, then went back to Carlsbad.  We again walked into town, had dinner at an italian restaurant, then headed out to the beach to walk in the Pacific Ocean.  Let me tell y'all; it was NOT warm.  The entire time, I had been wearing jeans, a long sleeved T, and a light jacket and was perfectly comfortable.    The water was ALMOST cold enough to make my legs numb, but not quite:)

Sunday morning we began to trek up towards San Francisco.  The goal was to hit the Pacific Coast Hwy (Hwy 1) so we could enjoy the breathtaking views.  Of course, that means tight, twisty turns following along the craggy, cliff lined coast so after driving something like 6 hours, we began to look for a hotel.  If you've ever traveled along the Hwy 1 ... you will know that in many places there is NOTHING.  Nothing other than big green hills, and the ocean.  No gas stations, no restaurants, no nothing.  We used our trusty iPhones to figure out what was around us, and booked a B & B in Carmel.  Carmel is right on the ocean, old, tiny, and twisty.  None of the places in Carmel have actual ADDRESSES.  Everything is "At the corner of A and B".  So with a small bit of difficulty, we were able to locate the Wayfarer Inn.  I admit, I was a little nervous because I'd read some reviews of the place after we'd booked it, and not all of them were favorable.  What we found, though, was charming!  Great wifi, HUGE room with a fireplace, HUGE windows, big comfortable bed.  Loved it!  Since Sunday was Easter, many of the eateries and shops were closed in Carmel, so we walked to one of the only open restaurants and had to eat inside because of a light rain.  It was dark after dinner, so we went straight back to our room and hung out (Carmel has no street lights).

Left pretty early and had breakfast at the Hollywood Cafe in San Francisco.  We ate there last year and it was FAB!  Parked and spent a little over an hour at Pier 39.  We saw all the Sea Lions, did some shopping, and basically walked off our breakfast:)  After leaving there, we headed north to the Sacramento area. We spent quite a bit of time walking around and driving around the area, just getting a feel for it.  Tuesday morning, we drove 2 1/2 hours north to Redding, where we went to the park at Turtle Bay, and walked over the Sundial bridge which is SO beautiful.  It was FINALLY beginning to warm up, and I was able to toss my jacket in the back seat and not worry about it:)  After lunch, we headed south again back to Sacramento proper, and drove around the city a little bit.  Just like San Diego, it was NOTHING like I'd expected.  Sac is a LOT like Savannah, GA.  Very quiet, coastal feel to it, low rise buildings, clean.  It is a beautiful little city.  Much less traffic and people than San Fran.  We spent the night in Woodland, which is just lovely:)

Wednesday, we headed back to Lake Tahoe!  We drove through the Tahoe National Forest last year by accident, and just fell in love, so we came in a different way this time and went through the El Dorado National Forest in LT on purpose.  At one point, we parked and walked down a STEEP non-trail down to the lake.  It is so clear, in some places you can see literally 67 feet down.  We took a ton of pictures and just soaked up the atmosphere.  Lovely place.  We came over into Carson City, NV (and was totally unimpressed), then drove south ... back to Las Vegas.  We actually didn't expect to do that.  We had 2 FULL days now in Vegas and I was a little concerned we'd be bored.  Haha, I needn't have worried!  Thursday morning we headed up to Red Rock Canyon ... Gorgeous!  Spent a few hours there, then went and visited Las Vegas Motor Speedway (did I mention hubby and I are NASCAR fans?).  Drove back up to the strip and parked at New York New York and had dinner at the same restaurant we'd eaten at a week earlier, then went back out and walked the strip again.  We just did a LOT less walking this time!  Friday, we found another vegas gem, the Valley of Fire State Park.  WOW!  Amazingly beautiful place.  Valley of Fire was a little further out than Red Rock Canyon, but it was worth the drive.   We got out and hiked one of the trails, doing a little "off roading" over some rocks.  Headed over to Hoover Dam and walked over a bridge with a great view of the dam.  We actually did the dam tour last year, so this time we just stayed afar and enjoyed the views.  Turned our car back into the airport, then bunked down in our hotel room the rest of the evening.  We had to get up at 4:00 the next morning in order to make our 6:15 flight back to Atl, so we repacked and prepared to return to reality.

GREAT trip, LOVE the left coast.  It was so relaxing to have no agenda, no schedule ... and dare I say, no child.  He stayed home with his grandparents.  This was literally the first time since our HONEYMOON nearly 14 years ago that it was just hubby and I.  No kid, no dogs, no inlaws, no friends.  Just us.  It was great!  Can't wait to get back!