Thanksgiving Recap

Hello all! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving, black Friday, and weekend. Let me start off with a recap of our Turkey Trot. We ran a 5k on Thanksgiving, the same one we had participated in last year; however, they moved locations. I was slightly worried because this was the course

which I thought looked very twisty-turny for only 3.1 miles. It ended up being quite nice though! It was pretty cold, actual temp was about 28, but it felt much colder. So cold that D started the race with his winter coat on. -_- I was not a fan, but the course had a short loop before it went past the start, so he was able to just drop it off there. Despite the cold, I felt really good, and was determined to run fast (for me). I ended up with a time of 26:04, which is a PR! I was very pumped to do so well, and my friend Bethany (who lives close, so also runs the Turkey Trot...as does her whole family), finished about 20 seconds behind me and D, which is a PR for her as well! Good day. :)

After that, we went home for a quick breakfast, and to get ready for our first Thanksgiving feast which was in Indy at D's aunt's house. We drove there, and ate some delicious food, drank some delicious wine, and got to visit with lots of great people. We left there around 3:15, stopped at home to get the doggie, then went to my parent's house. There weren't too many people there (just my sister and her family, and my grandma), but my aunt and uncle did come a little later.

We ended up spending the night at my parent's house, then drove home around noon, after eating breakfast and coloring with some cute little girls. :) The rest of the day wasn't extremely exciting, but it was definitely relaxing. On Saturday we went to a coffee shop all morning to study, then came home and cleaned out the gutters, raked the yard, and picked up sticks. Maybe not my first choice of things to do, but so glad it's done, and our yard does look much better. D's dad also came over and put up some blinds, so now we FINALLY have all of our windows covered. It is very awkward to feel like people can see into your living room at night!

Today we had a slow start, but I'm planning on getting a semi-long run in before the rain (it certainly looks like it's going to rain anytime now), and D went to campus to work. After I run, I am going to work on some research and study some more for area exams. We had a fun extended weekend, I hope everyone else did too! We didn't do any shopping on Black Friday, but I am considering trying to get some good Cyber Monday deals. :) Have a good rest of the weekend!

Our Anniversary!

Today is our two year wedding anniversary! :) I have such good memories with D and I feel so lucky to have him in my life. He truly is my very best friend. Let me take you back through our relationship a little bit. :)

At the end of my Junior year of undergrad, it was one of my best friend's 21st birthday. We went out to dinner (giant margaritas, anyone? :) ), and then went to the campus bars, since it was her first chance to do so. At the first bar, one of our other friends met us, and she had a few extra people with her. One of them (spoiler alert: my future husband, ha!) was talking about doing tensile testing, which was similar to what I was doing at my internship, so I started talking to him about it. We only talked a little bit that night, but I saw him again the following Thursday (leaving a different bar!). We went to McDonald's together and had root beer and fries (so romantic, right?), and started to get to know each other. 

D left soon after that to go to Pennsylvania for an internship, but we were both excited to have met a new friend, and we texted each other once in awhile over the summer. When school started again, we didn't see much of each other, but then Laura brought him to Andrew's surprise party at our apartment. I was super annoyed that he didn't tell me he would be there (and maybe I was a little tipsy), so I made him leave (well actually, we voted! haha), but after that we started talking again.

At the beginning of November we finally realized that we wanted to be more than friends, and we decided to go out on a date. It took about two weeks after that for me to realize that he was something pretty special. :)

My friend Katie, D, and I at my Senior Day football game

Our first Halloween celebration!

We had a great Spring semester together, and since I had already accepted a job in Chicago, D decided to come with me. He found a job shortly after, so we found an apartment together in the city. We enjoyed living in Chicago--lots of bike riding, outings with friends, and new experiences.

During Christmas break of 2010, Dustin and I (and our friend Anthony!) took a trip to New York City to see the ball drop for New Year's. We made our way through the crowd and ended up around 52nd street and 7th avenue where we waited about 4 hours until midnight. It was cold, but a very memorable New Year's Eve.

One year later in 2011, we went back to New York for a vacation. Dustin had been hinting about getting engaged, but made it clear that he did not yet have a ring, so I had no idea that anything was going to happen on this trip. On Wednesday, December 28, we went out for drinks in the evening, but then I was tired, so we went back to the apartment to take a nap. We planned to get up after a few hours and go to the Empire State Building since neither of us had ever been before.

Around midnight, Dustin started trying to wake me up. I said we could just wait until tomorrow to go to the Empire State Building because I wanted to keep sleeping. He kept insisting that I get up, so finally I gave in and got up. We hopped in a taxi and rushed over to the Empire State Building. There were very few people there so we got to avoid the lines and the view from the top was amazing. 

Us at the top of the Empire State Building

After we spent some time at the top, we went back down, and Dustin suggested that we go for a walk. We went to Times Squre, which was mostly empty (a very different sight then normal!). After walking around for a little while, we stopped at a McDonald's for ice cream. We sat there while we ate, and then Dustin suggested we walk home.

We started walking when I realized that Dustin was looking for a specific place. I asked him what he was looking for and he said he was looking for 52nd and 7th avenue where we had stood the year before for New Year's Eve. When we found it, he turned and faced me, then got down on one knee. I said yes, and the rest is history! :)

Two of our engagement pictures--we took them in Millennium Park in Chicago

We went back to Purdue to start grad school in the fall of 2012, so we decided we should get married sooner rather than later, before grad school got insanely busy. We decided on November 24, 2012. It was a beautiful day surrounded by both of our families and all of our best friends. 

Walking out of the church

Driving off to the reception in our limo

Like I said, such great memories! Tonight we plan on going to dinner and just spending some time together. I made him a photo book with a bunch of pictures we have accumulated over the years. Hope he likes it. :) Have a good day everyone!

Thanksgiving, my sister coming to visit, and two adorable little girls

Hey all! I am getting very excited about Thanksgiving coming up, mostly because my sister is coming on Saturday and staying for a week! She lives in Atlanta, so I only get to see her a few times a year. Here are some pictures of us.

At her wedding

Last Christmas

She has 3 kids: an 18 year old boy, a 6 year old girl, and a 3 year old girl. I love all of them to pieces, and am so excited to see them.

Emily (3 year old), Austin, and Isabella (6 year old)

Their whole adorable little family

Here D and I are making cookies with Emily and Isabella last Christmas.

They are coming Saturday and we're going to an indoor water park, how fun. Then they are staying with my parents for the week, and I plan on going there at least for a few days, plus seeing them on Thanksgiving. What a great week. :) Hope everyone else is getting some good family time in too!

Snow!

It is November. Sorry, I just had to remind myself considering it has snowed 3 times in the past week. Not normal Indiana behavior...although, Indiana weather is pretty much characterized by being non-predictable. The snow has been beautiful though. It keeps snowing just enough to cover the ground, so it makes everything look like a winter wonderland. :) The temperatures though...I could stand to add at least 10 degrees there. For example, look at the forecast for today:

A high of 23! Really. That is just ridiculous, Indiana. Please adjust accordingly. :D

Nova is experiencing the snow for the first time. She seems to really like it! She does seem confused why she can't smell the ground though. Yesterday I let her in and her whole nose/snout was covered in snow. It was pretty much the most adorable thing I have ever seen. Tried to get a picture, but she immediately rolled around on the rug and knocked it all of. I suppose she was cold, but she could have at least had the decency to let me get a picture before she warmed up. :)

I am getting so excited about the holiday season! My sister is coming to Indiana next Saturday (yay!), so I'll get to spend some time with my nieces. We are doing a Turkey trot on Thanksgiving morning (which, I almost have my parents talked into doing with us!), then going to Dustin's aunt's house for lunch, and my parent's house for dinner. Ha! We are going to go into a food coma by the end of the day. I guess I better be working out everyday up until then so things don't get too out of control. ha. Have a great day, everyone!

Winter Running!

Because of a combination of being super busy, and the loss of several hours of daylight, the past few weeks I haven't been working out/running enough. Of course I shouldn't make excuses, and I need to just alter my schedule to do everything I want to do. Today I brought workout clothes with me to campus so that I can just go straight to the co-rec on the way home. As a side note, I did a lot of running this summer, so I didn't go to our university rec center much, but I really take it for granted. It is such an awesome facility, check out some pictures:

Our huge aquatic center

The front entrance to the co-rec

View as you enter the facility

There is also a running track that overlooks several different gyms (making running in tiny circles somewhat more interesting, a rock climbing wall (you can see part of it in the last picture--bottom left). Even making this post has made me more motivated to get to the gym. What motivates you to go workout?

Weekend Fun!

Yesterday we went to see Interstellar in IMAX with a group of friends. I was not impressed. Part of that may have been because it was almost 3 HOURS long! I do not have that long of an attention span, apparently. Afterwards we were going to go to the most delicious burger place in Indy, called Bru Burger (if you live in the area and haven't been, you must go!), but the wait was insane, so we went to Weber Grill instead. It was alright. Overall though, it's always fun to take a trip with friends, so I'm glad we went. :)

Today we started out the morning by sleeping in, which was great! Then we made potato bowls, which are possibly my favorite breakfast ever. We cook red potatoes with veggies and seasoning salt, then put over-medium eggs on top. Yum! I would show you a picture, but it never lasts long enough to get a picture of. :)

For the rest of the day, I'm going to go to campus to get some stuff done, go for a run, and hopefully buy some cold weather running gear online. This reversible headband is on sale at Kohl's, so I'm thinking I'll get that.

I'm also still searching for the perfect gloves. I think I want some that are fingerless gloves, but have flaps to make them into mittens. Sounds perfect because my hands get hot, but not hot enough to completely take the gloves off. Have a good Sunday, everyone!

Motivation from an Olympian

Last night, Billy Mills came to Purdue to give a talk. If you don't know who Billy Mills is, stop everything you're doing and watch this video.

He is a Native American from South Dakota, so he talked a lot about the struggles that he faced growing up as a minority. He kept stressing that perceptions affect our lives so much--our perceptions about what we're capable of, our perceptions of others around us, other people's perceptions of us--they all directly affect our lives. It was very interesting to hear from this incredible athlete that he had many moments of doubting himself. He felt like he didn't belong, even when he worked very hard and clearly had proved himself as an athlete. You can read more about the talk here.

After leaving his talk, I felt very motivated. Not only about running (although watching him win from behind in the Olympics was pretty awe inspiring), but about life in general. One of his main messages was that it is important to have dreams, because dreams keep your soul in tact. He feels like if you don't have dreams, you don't have anything driving you, and it is very likely that you will feel incomplete. I am making it a personal goal over the next few days to think critically about what my dreams are. There are things that I'm currently pursuing, but I need to take some time to directly identify my true dreams. I encourage all of you to do the same!

On another note, I went for a run this morning. When I checked the temperature on my phone it said 30 degrees, which caused internal complaining about the cold, but I told myself that training my body is good for so many aspects of my life. Complaining isn't a good habit to get into, and I don't want to be a person who focuses on negativity. Once I told myself that, I actually felt content, and I had a great run. One thing I love about running in the cold is that I can keep my pace faster than in the summer--it makes me feel proud of my running. :) I tackled just over 3.5 miles this morning, which was a great way to start my day. :)

One last thing--my body warmed up pretty quickly during my run, but my hands were freezing. Does anyone have any good suggestions for running gloves? I can't handle many more runs where my hands go numb! :) Have a good weekend everyone!

Busy Week!

This week has been insanely busy! For my Master's work, I built a balance board that can be modified in real time. Basically, I can control how hard or easy it is to balance on the board. This can be interesting, because it can put healthy people in unstable regions--allowing us to learn about instabilities and why they occur. The balance board looks like this:

Now that I've finished my Master's, part of my PhD work includes testing the board on different human populations. I did some pilot testing for my thesis, but now we are doing full blown studies with college-aged students. The testing takes a little less than an hour and a half, and we just put people through various conditions on the board. We've already tested 7 people this week! It's very interesting work and I like getting to see people use the board I built, but it sure is exhausting.

Outside of school work, I haven't made time to run much this week. I did a 3 miler on Tuesday morning before I went to campus, but that's it. Hopefully today I will squeeze in at least 3-4 miles and maybe some time on the stationary bike. The time change is killing me since it's dark by the time I get home! Have a good rest of the week, everyone! :)

Monumental Half Marathon--Race Recap

D and I made it through the half marathon yesterday! :) I wasn't too worried about finishing, but since I hadn't run more than 3 miles in the past two weeks, and because of my slightly injured foot, it had crossed my mind. Luckily, I didn't feel anything at all from my foot--whew, what a relief. The only downside of this race was that it was freezing! Seriously so cold. It was 28 degrees at the start, and on tv they said it felt like 16. The wind cut right through you. Brr.

Miles 1-3 were easy peasy. Our pace was slow because of the crowd, but we felt good. [Side note: we started with the group trying to pace 9:30--how were there so many people walking in front of us?? I don't care at all if people want to walk, but it is really frustrating when you can't even run at your pace because you are weaving around people walking down the center of the road. :-| ] Around mile 4, we heard our names, and saw my parents waving frantically at us. My mom even ran down the sidewalk with us for a few seconds because she was so excited that they had found us. :) Immediately after that, we ran into our friend Si who was running the full marathon. We ran with her for a couple miles (note: these were our fastest miles!) until we got separated. That brought us to about mile 6. At mile 7, the half marathon route broke off from the full, so the crowd thinned out quite a bit. I felt pretty great until just after mile 8, when my freezing hands were starting to really bother me. Not a huge deal, but I could tell I was starting to get uncomfortable. 

Around mile 10, my calves started to really tighten up. I've never had this happen before I think it was because of the cold--I was wearing capris, so my calves were exposed. This tightening lasted until the end, and made the finish very unpleasant. D was a champ though, and continuously kept trying to motivate me. Around mile 12.5 there was a huge crowd, which pumped me up a bit for the finish line. We finished with a time of 2:08:52, which was a little slower than my time last year, but I was still pretty happy. D's parents and my parents both came to watch, so we immediately found them, then went and ate a delicious breakfast. :) 

Here we after the finish. We are standing next to the giant pile of clothes that had been picked up near the start. Since we were both freezing, we contemplated going through the pile for warm clothes, but decided against it. :) 

Today I've been relaxing for most of the day. I have a little bit of work to do before tomorrow morning, but we are going to go to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch a football game and celebrate our half (D's first!). :)