Quilting, Baby shower, AND a run :)

It was ONLY 27 degrees?!?!?!?!

I'll tell you, with the sun shining brightly, and NO wind {okay, maybe only a little}, it certainly did NOT feel like it was only 27 degrees.  It was beautiful!!!

And I love it when my fastest mile happens at the end of my runs, ON a hill!

So, now... the family is getting ready to head out to the local skating rink for an evening of fun wheelin'.

Tomorrow:  12 miles (yes, even I'M a bit 'yikers' about that!) AND depending on how pooped I am.... maybe some QUILTING :)

Julie's Baby quilt - done

The confidence of finishing this quilt in time for today's baby shower wasn't sitting quite at 100%, but... a strong 85% indeed.

And sure enough;  the procrastinator's schedule almost lead to a Murphy's Law when my bobbin was acting up on the Juki quilter.  Thankfully, with a little bit of cleaning, she was back to work...

I think this is the closest I've ever been to a deadline before when the final stitch was sewn.  

On the running front...

{{hanging head in shame}}

I haven't run since Tuesday!  YIKES!!!!

So, after the shower today, I simply must hit the treadmill OR street, weather permitting.  The sunshine outside is BEAUTIFUL, but sunshine can be deceiving when sitting inside a heated Wisconsin home.  The temp this morning was -2.6 degrees.  Gah!  I'm so ready for 90 degrees and sunshine and green grass.....

:D

Happy Saturday.

Amy's Passions IS the name, right??

So, while running after school today, I was thinking about how bad I've been at keeping my blog updated.  

And then it hit me....

The name of my blog is Amy's PASSIONS;  it was so titled because I had full intentions of keeping track of all of my passions:  quilting AND running, with some family and garden intermixed along the way.

So, my quilting has slowed down;  duh right.  Any of my regular followers have already determined this, BUT, perhaps when I start getting back into regular blogging of my OTHER passion (ie: running), I'll keep and/or add more followers. :D

So, to my regular readers;  oh TRUST ME!  I will still quilt!!!!!! It's simply taken a little bit of a back seat to my running right now; at least until the Green Bay marathon is over.

And my run today... 

OUTSIDE running again BAY-BEEE, WITH my favorite App! :)

Mother Nature is obviously still working on her kinks of Spring thoughts.  Today's 38 degree temp could have been lovely (??), but it kinda gets negated when you throw in a 12 mph wind.  

As I'm always trying to look for the positive lately.....

At least She gave me the opportunity to improve my strength by offering up that amazing wind resistance training.

Back to the App for a moment...

Depending on how you turn the iphone, the visible screen/data changes.  I just found out tonight that if I turn it landscape when looking at my 'outdoor' run, I get a breakdown of each mile.  Ummm, COOL or what?!?!?!  And I find it interesting:  the full wind was hitting me for almost all of mile 4.  Hey!  I'll take that!  It was my 2nd slowest mile today!  Today's run was supposed to have me running 11:26/mile pace; a nice-n-easy "recovery" run after my 10 mile over the weekend, but.......I simply can't run that slow right now!  I DID take my time, but my training logic is telling me that if I want to eventually run my marathon at 10:00/mile (GOAL) pace, my easy paced days shouldn't be much more than a minute slower than that.

???

I'll do some more reading on that, I suppose...

Hey!  Happy Tuesday everyone!!

February summed up

Oh, I have been a bad, bad blogger :S  LOL

Sorry everyone!!!!  Really :D

So, here's the whirlwind tour..... 

YES!  I have done a little bit of quilting (only a lil though) !  I have a baby shower coming up this Saturday, and I will pull a perfect procrastinator's schedule with this quilt.  I have yet to add one more blue border, and then the quilting, all to be fit in sometime this week before the shower on Saturday at 1:00.  I got this.... no biggy :)

I also have been working on organizing some more units for the Omigosh quilt leader-ender project.  NO RUSH at all here;  purely my leader-enders.  So much fun to play with all those mixtures of 1" scrap strips :)

Family fun time has been in quite a bit of full swing on the weekends.   Paul and I have certainly tried to keep these dreary days of winter entertaining...

Tubing in the snow...

Tubing in the water...  {{OBVIOUSLY an indoor water park}}

I do enjoy my snow and winter sports, but..... yup.  I'm ready for the snow to start melting and for Spring temperatures and smells to start taking over.  We here in Wisconsin have another solid month to survive before that'll happen, though :)

ALTHOUGH...Tonight, Cassie and I dressed in a couple of layers to enjoy the 32 degree weather with a nice 1.83 mile run.  She's getting sooooooo dang tall!  Easily 2-3 inches taller than me!

I know I've said this before, but here it is again... I LOVE THIS Nike+ Run App! Love it love it love it.  

This past weekend was barbershop at our household.  And dear Cassie wanted her hair CHOPPPPPED.  Since her hair is SO think, I ended up banding it in pigtails before cutting it.  The outcome:  DOUBLE the donation to Locks of Love.

So, yeah.  Life is continuing....

OH!!!! AND......

All of my running has been leading me ultimately subconsciously to another marathon, I think.

After hovering over the Registration button for a full week, I finally hit "SUBMIT" yesterday afternoon.

Green Bay or bust, right Andee???

Today - I PROMISE to quilt!!!

Today - Running IS NOT on my schedule!!!!!  

Not after my 10-mile "Valentine's Day sugar detox" run yesterday.

But quilting IS!

I promise to quilt!

I'm kind of nervous to see the state of my sewing room;  it's been SOOOOO long!

My first task will be to tidy.  

And then...to find a pattern for a baby quilt.  Baby shower coming up in a couple of weeks... and if quilting doesn't happen all that often anymore, I NEED to use my time wisely :)

HAPPY SATURDAY!!!!!!!

To note:  I am still MAJORLY in love with my Nike+Run app!!!!  Such an easy way to track my mileage :)

My hiatus - 2013 Running

Oh my dear, dear quilting/internet buddies:  I have been a bad blogger!  No doubt!

My quilting has been on a standstill for a few weeks with only about 4 total hours logged in the past three weeks.  Other priorities (obsessions?????) have simply taken over.

I think I will be the first to admit that I am quite guilty about having spurts of obsession.  Lately.....RUNNING/"working out" has been back on my "during any free time" list.

If you take a look at my Running tab, you'll see my rundown since the start of the 2013 New Year.  In January, I already surpassed my completely total logged mileage from last year;  definitely on pace for a record setting year (if this obsession continues).

Truth be known:  life is getting crazy stressful again, and my time on the treadmill has become my "easy button escape from reality."  I truly enjoy just plugging in the headphones to some great music.  Last weekend, a 5-mile goal run turned into 7, simply because I didn't want to stop cuz my music hadn't reached the end of the playlist!

A couple of weeks ago, I finally bit the bullet, resisted my frugality urge, and BOUGHT ME AN iPHONE!  And I have been LOVING some of the workout/running apps!

Running/Nike+ is my favorite!  My last 6 run summary is shown here, but know that some are more like Power Walks, simply because I can't run everyday.

So, yeah....

I'm alive.  And getting in great shape. :p (FINALLY!)  And a little birdie via FaceBook said my sister is also finding some motivation to get on her treadmill again :)  That makes me happy!

Happy Sunday!

Life is good

My two therapies today: Easy Street & Running

The day began early, like many others lately.  4:30 AM yesterday morning, and 5:30 AM this morning.  And truly, on the weekends, I really don't mind.  There's always so much I want to do;  and there's so little stress to worry about since I don't have to prepare mentally for being in front of a classroom.  I'm sure all you other teachers understand?  Waking early is easy on the weekends.  I mainly get to relax with my own priorities I set out for the day.  No agenda, other than what I set for myself, .... or I suppose, what I need to do as a mom, wife and overall member of a family and society.

Yesterday was filled with Basketball and Football.  Cassie is signed up for Basketball again this year and she had her first tournament of the season.  Thankfully, it was a 'home' tournament, so travel only consisted of 5 miles.  That was manageable.   There was more basketball in the afternoon since Cass's team was asked to join in on the Varsity introduction "hand-slap" line.  It's all good;  I hadn't seen a varsity game yet this year.

And then, there was football in the evening.  But, for any Green Bay Packer fans out there (or 49er fans), I don't really want to talk too much about the results of that game.  Besides, I fell asleep at half time, and wasn't awakened too often afterwards by shouts from DH, which usually happens when he whoops and hollars at good plays.  ie:  there weren't too many in the 2nd half :\

But today... I sewed.

And I truly didn't have any goals in mind.  I just wanted to sew.  And little bit by little bit... Easy Street blocks were finished up.  The layout....  I think I'm okay with it.  It's very different than any color combination I've used in the past, despite using greens/oranges/purples, my favorite combination.  The black as a background is a big change for me.  Some of you have said that the colors remind you of Halloween;  I can see that.  The blocks haven't been sewn into rows yet;  it was 3:00 by this time, and I was ready to move into my second form of therapy for the day.....

Running....

When I run inside, I clearly don't get any change in elevation tracked, nor distance;  only time can get recorded while I'm on my treadmill.  65 minutes today, and with my share of walking (all the lower heartrate percentages shown), I was able to log 5 miles.  I had set a goal of 6 today, but I'll take 5.  I marked off one of my highest heartrate percentages;  an insight into how out of shape my heart and cardio system is :\  However, I'm working on it.  Besides, considering I've been back on the running wagon all year so far, I'm happy with my progress!  PLUS, today's 5 miles already has me surpassing my TOTAL mileage logged from 2010!!!!  Can you believe it?!?!?!  I simply shake my head....24 miles in 2010.  How sadly sad that is.

But, I'm back.  I have a few motivators helping me along the way;  certainly helps to keep me honest!

And, the other good news;  I'm finally making progress on my virtual trip to Amy's house :D  Almost halfway there now :)

I think I'll relax with some reading tonight.  

I certainly hope your Sunday and weekend was all that it could be :)

Happy Sunday.