Neon = Fast

I got some new stuff from Aéropostale. Not just regular clothes (I did get some of those, too), but more running stuff! Which is perfect, because my Dad and I are doing a 10k early this Saturday morning...

Oh, and I've actually been training for my half this time around!

All of this new activewear is from the Live Love Dream collection at Aéropostale (previously here). I'm a big fan of this stuff - fun prints and colors, quality sportswear (nothing worse than a bad sports bra, amiright?), all for very reasonable prices, just like everything else at Aéropostale.

I have a theory that neon makes me run faster. So I opt for bright and loud neon when I run. Bright shirt. Bright shoes (you can see me coming from a long ways off). Bright sports bras. Bright e'er'thang. It's tough to find neon running shorts, but don't worry - I'll keep looking.

 neon tank: LLD Mesh Back Performance Tank

sports bra: LLD Seamless Sports Bra

shorts: LLD #BESTBOOTYEVER Volleyball Shorts <-- the name of these cracks me up.

They say volleyball shorts, but I've worn them running a few times. While there is less coverage, I've added them to my running bottoms rotation. Sometimes it's nice to switch things up, y'know?

I really like these shorts - the paint splatter print is so fun, and a fun change from my stash of black and navy shorts. They're a bit shorter inseam than I'm used to, but that's not a big deal - I have shorts in all different sizes, fits, and inseam lengths. However, I do think I'm between sizes - the tush and legs of the shorts fit great, but the waistband is a wee bit big. Story of my life lately - clothes fitting in one area, and not another!

shorts: LLD Spray Paint Running Shorts

shoes: Mizuno

Painting Pups

If you've ever wanted to know what my dogs would look like as a painting, here they are:

We went to a local painting place, Pinot's Palette, and painted pictures of our sweetymcsweeties. We sent in pictures of the pups beforehand, and the studio converted them to a black & white gradient, then glued them to the canvas. With some beer and wine and lots of instruction, we slowly but surely painted our pets. I really enjoy doing this type of thing, but lack any artistic skill, so about twenty minutes in, when I've botched up my painting more than a few times, and lost all patience, I'm donnnnnne. And start creeping on everyone else's projects. And drinking more wine. 

And questioning my purpose on this earth if I can't paint a decent picture of my really sweet and handsome Turbo...

But anyways, here are our finished projects. We hung them up in our living room. While they DO resemble our sweeties, I prefer the real live ones to love on :)

Oh, and here's what I wore to paint. Of course I wore an apron over this ensemble. I also wore this to have breakfast with a friend that morning, which was splendid.

And then I ran a 10k that evening

and

LIVED TO TELL THE TALE!!!

We'll call that a success. Who cares about time or pace? I didn't stop and I didn't die, and I didn't feel like dying right after, or the day after. #winning

chambray: Kohl's

shorts: Old Navy

sandals: Target

Old Friends

Several weeks ago, we had some special company - our good (married) friends from high school. They got married the summer before us, and we've remained good friends through their subsequent move across the country and back, and our putting down roots in Northern Colorado.

They came up to visit us and check out our new house, and we loved having them. They brought their sweet pup, Benni, and we ate delicious food and drank delightful beverages all weekend, and played several rounds of Cards Against Humanity. New favorite game. It's in my Amazon shopping cart, as we speak...!

there was much discussion over my rolled up pants and booties. L and I were on the same boat, but the boys disagreed
*sigh*

me with their pup, Benni. I even got to take him on a run with me - I've forgotten what it's like to have a dog that bounds and just can't get enough exercise...!

wearing my cupcake apron, preppin' dinner and dessert for our guests

button up: Akinz Boardwear
lace sweatshirt: rue21
apron: gift
jeans: GAP Outlet
booties: Old Navy

Mr. Picks Mondays: Pythonnnn

The Mr. picked out this python print top for me today, which I find funny. Simply because I thought he didn't like this top. Apparently, I was wrong (one of the only times that has been the case).

Confession: for a split second, I considered wearing my python print flats with this shirt. As you can see, I did not. I did, however, wear them this weekend and my Dad seemed really confused as to why I would wear shoes with a snake print on them. To him, I say "Dad. They're in. Unlike wearing socks with Keens. That will NEVER be in. Let it go. Let it goooooo." (<-- I FINALLY saw Frozen! aaaaand, I loved it!)

Also, if anyone has any tips for strengthening and/or stretching the arches of your feet, please share! I'm dying on my runs lately... :/

shirt: Old Navy

jeans: thrifted, but originally from Old Navy

sandals: SEARS

Stripes, Plaid & Running for ME

digging this zipper detail on this shirt

showing off my purple mani, with a pink "party nail"

I wore the above to drive an hour to stay the night with my bestie before our race the next morning. I wore my ankle booties under my jeans, and deliberately mixed the stripes on my shirt with the plaid on my scarf. You like? I sure did. I'm debating wear this whole thing together again, but maybe this time to work, so that more people besides my husband and my best friend see it, and can appreciate my print-mixing & fall tones ;)

before the race, from my Instagram 

hot chocolate (hence the name) & treats after the race. marshmallows & pretzels never tasted so. good.

My best friend and I did the Hot Chocolate 15k several weeks ago (15k = 9.3 miles). She is currently training for a marathon (!!!), which is 26.2 miles, and although the race was more mileage than she was up to on her long run that week, she really blew the race out of the water! For the first 4 or 5 miles, we stayed together and consistently jogged for 3 minutes, then power walked for 2 minutes. Eventually, I was dyin'. I couldn't catch my breath, my feet were hurting & starting to develop blisters, and my legs. My legs got so tight & sore, even though we had stretched out before the race (it's awesome when your bestie is taking classes to become a certified yoga instructor - she tells you HOW to stretch, how to increase the stretch, and tells you what you SHOULD be feeling). So, I sent her on ahead - she was doing so great, and I could tell she was loving this run (the HUGE smile on her face was a giveaway). She really was doing so great, and I was holding her back. So, she finished significantly before me, since I walked (almost) the rest of the race and listened to my booktape :) The pain & frustration I felt with this race are due to my lack of training - it's no one's fault but my own. 

I mentioned that my Dad and I were planning to do another half-marathon together, but that race was postponed due to the major flooding we experienced in Colorado in September. Once it was postponed, I completely stopped training and thinking about training (I assumed the race would be postponed until the spring, due to the major destruction of the course). Imagine my surprise when the race was rescheduled for a weekend that my Dad & I already had plans, and I had stopped training. I sold my entry for a fraction of what I paid for it, which was a bummer. 

But, after the Hot Chocolate race, and after talking with another friend, I had this "epiphany" about running: I like LOVE it when I'm not training for anything, when I'm doing it just for me, when I'm not trying to get in mileage, when there's no pressure, when I run to clear my head, and get a quick (and cheap!) shot of endorphins. 

Maybe signing up for a race causes me to put undue pressure on myself, and coincidentally tear up my feet with bad blisters. Maybe I should just keep running for fun, for me, for whenever I WANT to do it. Because, if I do go run, and I don't want to, it's hard to snap out of that funk - I spend the entire run wishing it were done already, or that I hadn't even started. So, I'm going to run for me, and for me only. It's not worth it to pay for a race, stress out about it, and not enjoy training for it - it's so much more enjoyable (for me), to run WHEN and IF I want to,  and not because I should.

That being said, I am so proud of one of my oldest friends for doing so well in this race (kicking my butt, really!) and training for a marathon - you are going to be SO great! So proud of you, sweets! Namaste ;)

striped shirt: Ann Taylor LOFT via Clothes Mentor

tank: Abercrombie & Fitch

scarf: thrifted (Target)

jeans: thrifted (True Religion)

booties: Old Navy

running gear: a combination of my stuff, hand-me-downs from my mom, 

and layers borrowed from my friend

Polka Dot Overload

dots on dots

I feel obligated to tell you that this was not the outfit I wore when I wore this outfit originally. 

Make sense? (I feel a bit like a Dr. Seuss book...)

I wore this to work on a Friday. Fridays are "spirit days," so I actually wore a work t-shirt, instead of this polka dot chambray. I know, it's like I'm lying to you, but hear me out! I didn't think you would be too impressed with a boring work t-shirt, so I swapped out the shirts for this visually interesting combination. However, the sweater, pants & shoes are true to what I actually wore. So, really only a quarter fib. Can we still be friends?

While we're on the subject of substitutes, I'm running the Hot Chocolate 15K tomorrow morning! I was supposed to run it with one friend, but unfortunately she hurt her foot/ankle/leg, and is in a boot while she heals. However, she was kind & gracious enough to allow me to ask another friend (this friend) to do the race with me in her place. So, we'll be running & consuming hot chocolate tomorrow morning. Wish me us luck! ;)

shirt: thrifted

sweater: thrifted

pants: Old Navy via Plato's Closet

shoes: Target

linking up this over here, and this over here, cause I'm fab and I love it :)

coral stripes & mint & running

this is my "paparazzi shot" - "No pictures, please, just walking my dogs" ;)

juggling these 2 leashes can be pretty challenging...they like to criss-cross & trip us up...

Unrelated to my above outfit (do ya like?)...

So, I'm running another half-marathon with my Dad on the 22nd of September. Another 13.1 miles on a Colorado Sunday morning. I've been slacking on my training (sorry, Pops) but have picked it up again this past week. And I have to be honest with you, I'm really bad at running. I'm slow, and it hurts, and I'm really slow, and did I mention it hurts? It hurts my hips, my knees, my calves, my shins, and my feet, especially. My foam-roller and I have become besties, and I'm constantly asking D to rub out my legs or my feet or help me stretch. And, for some reason, I get constant blisters on my feet: on the balls of my feet, on my heels, on  my arches, BETWEEN my toes (I know, I didn't think it was possible, either), just about everywhere. It's no fun, my friends. And for whatever reason, my feet won't toughen up.

However, this is something I'm going to keep doing to get ready for my race with my Dad. Running has kind of become "our thing." By that, I mean we do races together, but my Dad can ACTUALLY run circles around me (and no, I'm NOT joking). The man can lap me and still hold a conversation and sing songs, while I'm gasping for breath and asking to slow down. He talks, and I respond with thumbs-up or thumbs-down, and when he's got extra energy (which is often), he runs backwards, or grapevines next to me. But he still runs the race with me - we finished our last half-marathon (which was our first) holding hands. Now that's love.

So, here's to buckling down and taking my training seriously until our race. Because then I've got two more races lined up after that...a 15k with a friend, and a half-marathon relay with my Mr.

Wish me luck!

tank: Target

chambray: thrifted

jeans: Kohl's

sandals: Trends

Running Gear

See, I told you I wore neon orange running shoes. And they make me run faster. Obvi.

These leggings are the last of the items I picked out at Aéropostale a few weeks ago. I've got running shorts and tights, but these are my first pair of capris - I'm a new fan! I am digging the marled gray, as opposed to the ever popular black. 

this headband was in a swag bag from the event at Aéropostale

You like? What do you think? Would you try out a new brand of workout gear? Specifically Live Love Dream?

top: Kohl's

capris: Aéropostale

shoes: local running store, but they're Mizuno Wave Inspire 9s

Fabulous Lost Wages

Two weeks ago I went to Las Vegas for a friend's bachelorette party. It was a quick (and early!) trip. Our flight left Denver at 7:20 AM, and then we left Vegas at 7 AM two days later to head home. We ended up barely napping Saturday night/Sunday morning before our flight home. Needless to say, I was exhausted! Fun was had by all, but I sure was glad to get home and sleep in my own bed and get back to a regular sleep schedule!

I don't want to share pictures of the other girls here on the interwebs, but here are some snapshots of the quick trip. I didn't snap pictures of everything we did - we saw Thunder from Down Under (so great!), but to take a picture with the guys was $20, so I passed. I'm on a budget, ya know. 

Enjoy!

what I wore to Vegas

from my Instagram (@sweetbananie)

just hanging out at the baggage claim

we got suckered into this. but I came home with a really pretty pearl ring, so I'm not TOO upset ;)

we did some of this both days at the pool and it was wonderful

it's grainy, but this is what I wore our first night out: black top, neon orange lace skirt & red wedges

what I wore to explore Fremont Street & eat at In-N-Out Burger for the first time

and what I wore the second night - same shoes as the night before. we walked to the other end of the strip this night, hence the blisters on my heels I mentioned before...

making faces & taking selfies while I waited for the other girls to finish getting ready

the mothership - across the street was as close as I got :(
#jimmybuffettforever #parrothead #blewoutmyflipflop

Vegas was fun, especially with the girls, but laying low at home is more my speed, I'm thinking. My Mr. heads to Vegas this coming weekend for the corresponding Bachelor Party, so we'll see what he thinks of Sin City.

Happy Sunday! I've got to go on my long run this afternoon (my Dad and I plan to do another half marathon in September) - wish me luck!