Niki's Neverending Adventure

I have been a busy little bee the last few days and haven’t posted! Did ya’ll miss me?  :)

 

I first want to start by saying the Turkey Enchiladas that I made Tuesday night were awesome!! We have already eaten the leftovers! I did freeze some of the meat for an easy taco night some time in the future! Definitely try this recipe!! Last night I made Chicken Chili from a recipe I got a while back from IGE. Awesome recipe! Seriously, BEST CHICKEN CHILI EVER!! And of course, no chili dinner is complete without some sweet cornbread!! Do ya’ll eat regular or sweet cornbread?? I’ve always eaten sweet and am not a fan of regular!

 

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On the running front… yesterday I had an awesome 6 miler! But, HOLY WIND!! It was so windy! At one point I was going down a hill into the wind and barely felt like I was moving! So much for enjoying those downhills!! I did a super hilly 6 mile route around my town and it was awesome! Ya’ll know I love those hills! Here’s my stats:

 

Time: 1:01:16

Avg. pace: 10:13

Mile 1: 10:16

Mile 2: 10:18

Mile 3: 10:16

Mile 4: 10:08

Mile 5: 10:20

Mile 6: 9:59

 

I felt great after this run! Didn’t run it too fast or too slow, right in the middle. I am happy with myself for keeping a pretty consistent pace! After my run, I went over to Erin’s to do some Biggest Loser yoga. It was fun to “attempt” the poses since I am the most inflexible person ever!! It did feel awesome to stretch out my muscles though! Hopefully I can become better at it as we do it more often! Haha. Does anyone else’s arms get super tired during yoga?? I swear, I could barely keep my arms lifted in the air! Haha.

 

This morning was another early morning 3 miler with Erin! It was pretty chilly again this morning, 39 degrees, but made for great running weather!! This run was much better than Tuesdays! Our time’s are getting better every time!! We have a nice early morning walk planned for the morning! There’s nothing like a great workout buddy to get you up at 5:30 am every morning to do some form of exercise!! I am loving it!!

 

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I’ve been pretty busy doing school stuff this week. I finally finished my take home test yesterday. So glad that’s done! We had to write 35 test questions over a variety of topics and write rationales for the right and wrong answers. Very time consuming! I am so glad I’m not a teacher because making test questions is hard!! Today, I get to go to The Med (one of the hospitals here in Memphis) and get to see and learn how to use and anesthesia machine! I am so excited!!

 

Well, this post is long enough and my doggies are begging for a walk so I better get going! Hope ya’ll have a great Thursday!!

 

Question: Is it too early to start listening to Christmas Music?? I am so ready for it!!

Posted in: on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at at 8:48 AM 5 comments    

Hey guys! How’s it going?? I’m not a happy camper right now because my coffee pot just decided to roll off the counter and crash on my kitchen floor, thus shattering glass everywhere! And of course I cut my finger while trying to pick up the big piece. Sigh.

 

Anyway, my day has been pretty boring today. The only fun thing I did was a 3 mile run with my running buddy this morning! The rest of the day I have been working on a take home test from school and doing housework. I did get 25 out of the 35 questions on the test done though! Yay!! I am hoping to finish it up tomorrow!

 

Tonight for dinner I am making us Turkey Enchiladas from a recipe I saw on GreenDogWine a few days ago! It looks good, I will let ya’ll know how it turns out! I also rented the move The Taking of Pelham 123 with John Travolta and Denzel Washington for Al and I to watch tonight. I am excited to see it because I have been waiting to watch it since this movie came out in theaters!! Anyone seen it yet? I hope it’s as good as I’m thinking it will be!

 

Well, I still got lots to do so I better go! Have a great night!!

Posted in: on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at at 4:51 PM 4 comments    

Hey everyone! How’s your Monday been? Mine’s been ok, mostly reading stuff for school and getting ready to head to Anatomy lab in a bit (gag me). I did get my car back, which I am so happy about, but wasn’t too excited to foot $428. Geez, cars can be so expensive!!

 

Like my title says, I have a houseguest this week, and her name is Georgia!

 

 

She is my parents dog (well actually mine, long story, but basically my parents wouldn’t give her up when I moved out!) and she is staying with me and Sadie this week while my parents are in Florida. They are going to do some wedding stuff! See the venue, meet with vendors, and scout out beach houses for my wedding in June. I am so sad I can’t go :( Stupid school always gets in the way! Haha.

 

 

Georgia loves to give kisses and hugs. She is the sweetest dog ever, well besides Sadie of course!

 

 

Her and Sadie are BFF’s and are gonna have some major fun this week!!

 

 

And here’s my little angel taking a nap. She has been sleeping ALL DAY! My brother’s dog Lexi really wore her out yesterday! Haha :)

 

No running today, it’s a rest day! Back to running early tomorrow morning with my Running Buddy Erin! Hope ya’ll have a fabulous night!

Posted in: on Monday, November 9, 2009 at at 3:09 PM 3 comments    

Church was great this morning! Worship was wonderful and the message was really convicting, so I am going to share a little bit. Did ya'll know that today is the National Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church? We saw a video clip of a bunch of different countries and the people there who face religious persecution. I automatically praised God for the religious freedom we have in our country! However, even though we aren't physically persecuted, we are spiritually persecuted every day by the ungodly things of the world. That's hard to hear sometimes because the things of the world can be great at times. But we have to remember that God and his love for us are MUCH GREATER than any worldly things!! There are also some great verses I discovered today during this message that I would also like to share.


Romans 12:2 "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is- his good, pleasing, and perfect will" As my pastor said, we need to change the way people think, and by doing this, we can change the way people live.


1 John 2:15-17 "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does- comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever" This is majorly convicting to me! Sometimes I find myself living for the things of the world and this verse really convicts me and makes me turn away from worldly things to the will of God.


2 Timothy 4:7 " I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" LOVE this verse! I am making this the verse for my life!


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On the running front... Today's run was tough. I had an 11 miler on the schedule but only completed 8. Better that then none right? I couldn't start my run until after church, which was about 11:30 am and by then, it was already 76 degrees. Now, that's not super hot but it felt like it since I have been running in 40 degree temps for weeks! I felt tired, hot, and super sluggish. Not to mention, that from mile 1 I had an awful side stitch that progressively got worse, to the point where I could barely catch my breath and was gasping for air. So needless to say after 8 miles of this torture I decided to call it quits. I felt pretty happy with going that far because I was ready to be done after the first 3 miles. Oh well, all runs just can't be wonderful and I will take this run in stride knowing it was only 3 miles short of what I was supposed to do.


I felt really bad after my run, like the same lightheaded nauseous feeling I had last week after my run. This lasted for about 2 hours post run. Anyone have any ideas what this could be from? I drank a whole water bottle full of 1/2 Gatorade and 1/2 water so I don't think I was that dehydrated. But I just felt awful and am not too excited that it keeps happening after all my long runs! I ate breakfast too, so it's not like my blood sugar should have been low. But anyway, any ideas/suggestions ya'll have would be nice!!


Today is my dad's actual birthday so we are celebrating tonight with a fajita dinner, cake and ice cream! Yay! Happy Birthday Dad!!

Posted in: church, running on Sunday, November 8, 2009 at at 4:45 PM 2 comments    

We have a tradition in my family to go out to eat for each of our birthdays at the restaurant of the birthday person’s choosing. Since Sunday is my Dad’s birthday, we decided to go out to celebrate it last night. He chose a new Italian restaurant called Elfo’s. I had a spinach salad, my mom and I split a veggie pizza, and I had tiramisu for dessert. It was good but a little pricy in my opinion. It was a lot of fun and we all had a great time! Here are some pics:

 

 

Me and my dad! Yes, we are matching :)

 

 

My mom and dad

 

 

Me and my brother

 

 

Me being silly

 

 

My Tiramisu! It was super yummy!!

 

On to other things… I had to take my car in to the shop yesterday because my service engine soon light had been on for a few days. Well, it ends up being a multitude of things that I have to replace: the battery, some automatic speed control switch, and my radiator hose that was leaking antifreeze. Needless to say, I am sad at how expensive this is going to be but thankful I took it in when I did and didn’t end up stranded some where! Another bummer about this situation is that they had to order a part and it didn’t come in today so I am carless until Monday. Luckily, I was able to use my mom’s car today to go to class and back home. But, I am having to stay at my parents house tomorrow night because my mom has to go to work Monday morning and I am stuck there until my car is ready. Guess it could be worse though! I don’t know what people do when they have car issues and don’t have family in the same city! Please enlighten me if this is your case!! I am just so thankful to have my parents and fiancé around to help me with things like this!!

 

On the running front… Yesterday I ran a quick, 4 mile fartleck run on my treadmill before class. I could definitely tell it was my 4th day of running in a row. My legs were tired!! I was so glad that today is a rest day before my long run tomorrow. I have 11 miles on the schedule! I am a little nervous because it’s supposed it be 76 degrees tomorrow at the time I will be running and I have been running in a lot cooler weather than that for weeks! I hope it doesn’t affect me too much!! My mom and I also took the dogs on a nice 1 mile walk this afternoon. The weather here has been great!! Well, I guess that’s all for now! I hope ya’ll are having a great weekend! Sadie and I are relaxing tonight!

Posted in: on Saturday, November 7, 2009 at at 5:50 PM 4 comments    

Hey everyone! Happy Thursday! Is everyone as excited for the weekend as I am?? I am super excited that this Saturday is my LAST Anatomy class, AKA last Saturday class ever!! Yay!!!

 

I got up early this morning and had another great 3 miler with Erin. We ran a lot faster this time and it felt great! The weather was a little chillier this morning than Tuesday morning but it was still ok. I am really loving these cooler temps. Funny how yesterday’s noon run was 70 degrees and I was super HOT and wearing shorts and a tank top and this mornings run was chilly, 38ish degrees and I had on long pants and long sleeves! Crazy how much of a temp difference there is from morning to lunch time!

 

As my title says, I have rediscovered my love for Twitter!! I haven’t been keeping up with it for a while until today when I realized I could Tweet from my phone! I send and receive tweets like text messages! It’s so fun! I’ve been getting text message “tweets” all morning long! Makes me feel important! Haha. I’m sure most of you have already come to this realization that you can tweet from your phone. And I’m sure the majority of you have IPHONES with the Twitter app, but I’m still sporting the ghetto razor, as I call it (because it’s bejeweled, and yes I did it myself many years ago), with text messaging being the only form of multimedia I have! So this is super cool and fun for me! So, if you Twitter (and if you don’t, give it a try, it’s pretty fun) follow me! @NikiRuns (see button at top right to follow) I promise to do lots of fun tweeting!

 

I am off to Bunco tonight! Can’t wait! Ya’ll have a great rest of the day!

Posted in: on Thursday, November 5, 2009 at at 1:37 PM 4 comments    

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but today during my run I was VERY THANKFUL for the wind! The weather is a little crazy here. This morning when I went to class it was 38 degrees and when I headed out for my 5 miler around noon it was 72 degrees! Makes it kinda hard to just pick one outfit for the day when your freezing in the morning and sweating in the afternoon! Anyway, back to my run. Like I said, I headed out around noon for a 5 miler. It was 72ish degrees and I knew this was going to be a HOT run. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, quite the beautiful day, but provided direct sunlight onto my face while running. Not so nice. But, there was this awesome breeze!! Normally the wind seems to blow in only 1 or 2 directions, but today it was blowing in 3 directions. And when I was running in the direction with no wind, boy was I HOT and really wishing for the wind! Ha! I normally hate running into the wind. I always feel like I have to work so much harder! And why is it, normally, that the wind is only around when the temps are freezing? Rarely is the wind around for super hot days!! Please wind, stay away in the cold and come around when it’s hot!! So basically, today, the wind made for a nice run!! Here are my stats:

 

Time: 48:13

Avg Pace: 9:39 min/mile

Mile 1: 9:59

Mile 2: 9:37

Mile 3: 9:38

Mile 4: 9:45

Mile 5: 9:15

 

Overall great run!! I think 5 miles is one of my favorite distances! Long enough to feel like you are really working but short enough to push yourself hard!

 

Tonight I am going to dinner at Bonefish with one of my bestest friends and bridesmaids, Katie, who is in town this week! I am super excited! I can’t wait to see her and I love Bonefish!! This week has kinda been nice and slow for school but socially busy!! Unfortunately, I need to enjoy this week because the next 2 weeks of school are gonna keep me super busy! But after that it’s Thanksgiving Break! I can do it :) Hope ya’ll have a great night!

 

PS: Check out the cute Turkey POTM Challenge button Bobbi made to the right!

Posted in: on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at at 3:48 PM 3 comments    

How many of ya’ll have running buddies out there?? I have been the runner that has never really had a running partner (AKA “Buddy”) and it’s made me a little sad. I was always slightly jealous when reading all the wonderful running blogs and the different people they get to run and train with. I always pushed away my slight jealousy with the thought that I like running alone, I get to listen to my music, run whatever pace I want, think about things… until I started getting bored on my long runs and knew I needed a change. Heck, I was bribing myself with Swedish Fish candy to complete my long run this past week! I was longing for someone to run with on any of my runs during the week, not just my long run. And today was the first day that I ran with my new Running Buddy!!

 

Well, she’s not really new to me at all!! Erin and I have known each other since High School! And now since we live really close to each other (like 5 mins away) and are both runners, we can officially be friends and Running Buddies!! Yay!! I was so excited to do our first run this morning!! We were able to head out early since the sun is now coming up around 6 am which made for a pretty run with great temps!! I think it was right around 50 degrees.  We ran a 1 mile loop around her neighborhood 3 times (3 miles) that had a nice mix of flat and hilly stretches. And the best part of the run? We talked the ENTIRE time and the 3 miles flew by! I really was amazed when our Garmins were beeping 3 miles! That’s definitely the way to run, with a buddy!! I’m looking forward to our Thursday morning run!

Posted in: on Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at at 5:50 PM 4 comments    

I made some yummy things today that I wanted to share with ya’ll! First up is Pumpkin Bites! I got this recipe from Iowa Girl Eats last week and it is divine!! I have been super into baking ANYTHING pumpkin and I think these little bites take the cake so far!! Here’s the recipe…

 

Pumpkin Bites

3 cups plus 2 TBSP all-purpose flour

1tsp salt

1tsp baking soda

1tsp baking powder

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

2 TBSP cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup canola oil

3 cups pumpkin puree (2 smaller cans)

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda and powder, and spices. Set aside.

2. In a mixing bowl, whisk sugars, canola oil and melted butter. Add pumpkin and combine thoroughly. Add eggs and vanilla, whisk until combined. Pour flour mixture into wet ingredients and slowly whisk until combined. Do not over mix.

3. Preheat oven to 350. Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper.

4. Place entire mixing bowl in refrigerator to chill for 20 mins. Use mini ice cream scooper to make 1 inch circles onto prepared sheets. Bake 10-12 mins. Once cool, fill centers with cream cheese icing.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick butter, room temp.

8 oz cream cheese, room temp.

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

Dash of salt

Beat cream cheese, butter, and cinnamon until lump free and smooth. Gradually add sugar until well combined. Add vanilla and mix just until incorporated.

Fill zip lock bag with frosting, snip one corner, and pipe onto cookies.

Sandwich them together and enjoy!!

Ya’ll, these are so delish! And this frosting is to die for! You must make these!!

I also made a really yummy, easy dinner tonight! I grilled one sweet turkey sausage on the George Forman grill, baked some sweet potato fries, and sautéed some spinach, garlic, and red pepper flakes! Yum! I’ve never eaten spinach like that and it’s super good!!

This dinner was great for just throwing something together!!

I didn’t do any running today. My right IT band is really bothering me so I decided I needed a day of rest. It’s super tight and really painful to just stretch. I will be back to running tomorrow but am still planning to take it a little easy. I did some strength training and stretching today. I also got out in the beautiful weather and took Sadie for a walk! Love days like this!

My Anatomy test is over, thank goodness, and I don’t have anymore tests this week so I get a little break from studying! I am excited for tomorrow because I am getting my hair done! I am getting a trim and it highlighted. I am so bad about keeping up with highlighting my hair because it gets so naturally blonde in the summer and I don’t need it done! So, it’s been well over six months since I had my hair trimmed or highlighted! Yikes! Just glad I’m naturally blonde so you can’t see my roots! Haha. I just want it to be a bit brighter since it’s  almost winter and will be getting duller and a tad darker. And then after my hair appt. I am going to lunch with a good friend who is also planning her wedding so we have lots to talk about! Hope ya’ll have a good rest of the night!!

Posted in: on Monday, November 2, 2009 at at 9:43 PM 6 comments    

I can’t believe it’s already November!! This fall is sure flying by! I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!! Mine was very low-key. Just took Sadie over to the parents house and we helped hand out candy and then my mom and I watched the movie Vacancy. It was pretty good! I was surprised that we barely got any trick or treaters! I know it used to NOT be like that when I used to trick or treat. What does everyone do instead?? I ended up eating a ton of candy, YUM!! And I still have some left over at my house since I didn’t hand out candy there.

 

So today I decided I would do my 11 miler that I failed to do earlier this week. I really pumped myself up for this run so I could have a good attitude! I even brought some Swedish Fish candies to use as some fuel during my run. Note to self: Swedish Fish are a little chewy to try to run and eat. I was ending up just swallowing them whole! Haha. The weather was pretty nice for the run, about 64 degrees and sunny with light winds. I set off after church about 11:15 and there were a ton of people out! That’s always motivating. So, the first 4 miles or so were nice, I felt really good. I stopped at my car around mile 4 to grab some water and my fish to carry along with me. Another note to self: I HATE carrying things while running, even if it’s just a baggy full of Swedish Fish! My hands got so sweaty, yuck! I started trying to chew my fish around mile 5.5. I figured half way would be good so I could digest these suckers and get some energy!! It was kinda hard to run and eat but I bet if I was eating something less chewy and sticky, it wouldn’t be so bad. I really want to try those cliff shot blocks! Anyone ever try them?? Well by mile 8 I was really tired but I just kept pushing through. I was going a little slower by this point but felt like I was expending so much energy to just keep up that pace! I don’t know how some of you run marathons! I was exhausted after just 11 miles! Anyway, I finished up in 1:57:18, which is a 10:40 min/mile average pace. I’ll take it!! I’m just gonna be happy with finishing this half!!

 

Like I said, I felt tired during the last couple miles of my run but when I finished my run, I felt awful. Stomach cramps, nausea, lightheadedness… it was awful. I finished my run around 1:30ish and couldn’t even eat anything until around 4:00. And then I could only stomach a few saltines and some OJ. I had the worst nausea and cramps! Awful. I even felt bad just laying on the couch, like really weak. I would stand up and be super dizzy. I’m sure not eating for a few hours after my run didn’t help that but I’m really not sure what started it all. I mean I really didn’t do anything drastically different on my long run this week. So who really knows… I am hoping to have my appetite back tomorrow!!

 

Well, I am looking forward to taking my Anatomy test in the morning just to get it out of the way! I am so sick of studying this stuff! Wish me luck and good night!

Posted in: on Sunday, November 1, 2009 at at 9:31 PM 2 comments