7 QT about Summer Vacations, Achieving Goals, Running Races and A Giveaway – 81

A huge thank you to Jennifer Fulwiler for hosting this Blog Carnival every week.

— 1 —

It’s been a fun first week of summer! My girls got to visit some friends they hadn’t seen (moved away) but had corresponded with over the past year.

Helen and her Snail Mail Pen Pal!

Dani and her e-mail buddy!

All of the girls together

Silly Picture!

It was a lot of fun for them.

— 2 —

They also got a treat of a day in The Windy City. That link will take you to Sarah’s Flipagram, I hope!

Basically, my girls got a vacation from their parents and got to hang out with grandparents all week. I hope they had fun hanging out together all week and I can’t wait to hear all about their week tonight when I get home from work! Our house was very quiet.

— 3 —

Dominic spent a few days with his Grandma, who helped us out by taking him to his first Tennis Lesson. Dominic is signed up for three weeks of Tues-Thurs Youth Tennis lessons. Grandma was very generous and bought him a racquet of his very own!

Ahhhh, how cute is this?!?

— 4 —

You know how I told you all I’d decided to adjust my goal weight with Weight Watchers to the top of the range so I could get to Lifetime and stop paying? Yeah…so, since I had been under that weight (or within 2 pounds of it) for 6 weigh-ins, I was granted Lifetime Status yesterday with Weight Watchers! How excited was I?

The star signifies goal weight and the gold key is the Lifetime Charm

Here’s a little photo collage I put together to commemorate this event…

Yay! I am so very happy! 🙂

So, I hit the top of the range (160 pounds) back on April 3. I’ve been maintaining that weight as I’ve tried to get to 155 for the past couple of months. So, adjusting my goal does a couple of things: 1) Gets me to Lifetime immediately and 2) gives me a little (more) cushion as I maintain long-term with having to pay. I still hope to get to 155 or even lower, but at least this way, I can stop paying the monthly dues and I get the E-tools for free, too! Yay for saving money!!

— 5 —

I am running the Hospital Hill 10K on Saturday. This is my third year in a row. in 2012, I ran it in about an hour and 18 minutes. Last year, I ran it in an hour and 9 minutes. Guess what? I am thinking I should run it in about an hour, maybe even under an hour by a minute or two. Well, three weeks ago, I did a long run of 6.18 miles and did it in 60 minutes, so I that is where I get my thought from. Of course, race day can be tricky. The weather is not supposed to be all that good — they are calling for rain/thunderstorms tomorrow morning. I also know that no matter what you do to prepare…something you eat can mess with you, or you just might feel tired that day. Either way, I am going to go and have some fun running it anyway!

— 6 —

At the packet pickup, there were lots of vendors. Ever since I got my hair cut short, I’ve been trying to figure out what to wear on my head that can keep my hair out of my face. My hair is no longer long enough for a ponytail and most headbands don’t stay in place. Well, I’m going to try these Bondi Bands. They have cute sayings on them and as long as you pull them below the hair line, they are supposed to keep sweat out of your eyes and stay in place. Craig got one that says “Will Run for BEER” haha. I couldn’t decide on one and figured I might need more than one anyway, so I got three:

I think I’ll wear “Stronger than yesterday” tomorrow 🙂

— 7 —

I’m going to leave this 7th quick take from last week because I have 87 “LIKE”s on my FB Page for Endless Strength and I want to get to 100 so that I can giveaway…

I got a Holy Spirit Holy Card since Pentecost is Sunday

So — if you are on Facebook, search for Endless Strength Blog and “LIKE” my page. I am about 13 “LIKE”s away from 100. Be sure to invite others to “LIKE” it, too.



Here’s a silly selfie from our dinner at a mexican restaurant we love last night. Love my sweet Dominic…

Silly Mommy, Sweet Boy

Have a terrific weekend and be sure to go check out Conversion Diary for more 7 Quick Takes Posts!

 

7 Quick Takes – 54

Thanks to Jennifer Fulwiler for hosting!

— 1 —

Since I mentioned it in my quick takes last week, I thought I’d let you all know how awesome this blogger world is. Cari’s fund drive for Dwija’s laundry room got close to (if not over) $10,000. That’s just way awesome. And it’s a great example of a lot of people doing a little bit of something to make a really big thing happen.

— 2 —

Independence Day around these parts was fun, but not over the top. Craig and I got to Crossfit to get our workout in. It was a “Partner WOD” so Craig and I partnered up to complete it together. I thought we did pretty well. Did the Rx for women (that means we didn’t scale on the deadlifts…or I didn’t. Craig’s only just out of Foundations, so he did the Rx for women’s weight with me and did great!) 

So, we basically had to do As Many Rounds As Possible (AMRAP) in 1776 seconds (which is 29 minutes 36 seconds). The circuit was 4 Deadlifts (115 pounds), 7 Burpees, 13 Medicine Ball situps, partner style, and then 400M Run carrying the medicine ball. Craig and I switched off which one of us carried it each round. We did 6 rounds in the allotted time, which meant we each carried the ball 3 times. It was the kind of workout where you don’t realize just how hard you are working until you’re done! 

— 3 —

The WOD Wednesday night was one of the “named” WOD’s and it was Randy. That means it was 75 Snatches for time. (My time was 6:41.) I scaled the weight (I did 35 pounds, but Rx was 55 pounds) since I am still pretty new to the movement, but when I got done I realized that I probably ought to have done the Rx weight because I pretty much have the movement down. At least that’s what the coach told me.

— 4 —

After our workout on Independence Day, we got some sorely needed housecleaning done and the grocery shopping. Then Craig and Vincent took a nap. Naps….ahhhhh. I watched the Royals pull out a great win by coming from behind with a Grand Slam in the 6th followed by another homerun. They had to come back again in the 8th (???) And then they closed it out winning by 3 runs. Yay Royals!!?

— 5 —

We took the kids to Oceans of Fun, intending to stay at Worlds of Fun until the fireworks. But, let’s get real. A 2-year-old (especially one named Vincent Hughes) and hours hanging out at an Amusement park where they can’t ride anything just does not mix. We spent max time at Oceans of Fun — I’m realizing THAT park is much more fun for my kids than Worlds of Fun — then Craig and Sarah rode the Mamba and then we left, went to dinner and came home to watch some fireworks on TV.

— 6 —

I’ve got some great pictures from Oceans of Fun:

Sarah and Dani did this rope thing where they move from lily pad to lily pad, etc.

Dani eventually fell off after the last lily pad (before the logs) but Sarah made it the whole way

Vincent got used to going down the slides by going with Dani holding him

Vincent also got a turn with Sarah holding him — before the lifeguard informed her she was too tall to ride

Vincent getting a turn all by himself! He had a blast and kept saying, “Slide! Slide!”

Look who finally figured out the slides were fun and not scary?!?

Of course, here is my Helen…She won’t miss an opportunity for the camera!

— 7 —

Work should hopefully be quiet today since there was the holiday yesterday and the weekend tomorrow. Hope I didn’t just “jinx” myself as they say! Have a terrific weekend!!

Have a terrific weekend and be sure to go check out Conversion Diary for more 7 Quick Takes Posts!