My Research

Since I hadn't purchased a new pair of running shoes in about 2 1/2 marathons, 2 triathlons and countless 5Ks (not to mention the training for all) and about 3 years ago, I decided it was time. In looking for some I started reading articles and research about running barefoot......What!? you say? Yep! Since most of these articles explain it way better than I do I will just give you the link. This one for example, talks about a tribe of Native Americans that are known to run over 100 miles (at one time people) barefoot! And this one has some great visuals about what our beautiful dress shoes do to our feet (and balance and posture). And just in case you don't want to take the time to look at these links, I am putting some of the pics on here too.

Ick! The feet look like shoes!

A little hobbit-ish but I bet this guy has great balance!

This is one that really made sense to me. I have horrible posture.....could it really be somewhat due to my shoes?

Here's the new shoes (yes I know they are not stylish with my velvet skirt) I got them in the mail at work and couldn't wait to try them on. The shorthand on the premise of these is that they give a barrier between you and the ground, that's it.....no padding, cushioning, orthodic arch supports....nada. This causes your foot to re-learn how to work properly. I am not someone with good feet either...no no. Flat arches, plantar facitis pain galore, joint pain.

So, last night I wore them to the gym. Their website gives you a plethora of uses but I heard all these benefits of running, so off I went. I was told to start slow. Not a problem since I am only up to 2 miles after my surgery anyhow. I decided to run 1 mile. Can I just tell you how bouncy my own feet felt?! It was great. Now mind you, the reason you start slow is because your calves are going to work harder than normal and mine did! You will also feel muscles in your feet you haven't felt in a while. I was sore last night....but muscle sore! not joint and shin splint (often a product of my old running style) sore. I will admit I have a small blister on the inside of my arch....I have always gotten one there, so no biggie. In all fairness most of my soreness is on my right leg....the one I had surgery on 3 months ago. So, I guess the verdict is that these puppies are pretty cool!

On a last note, I ordered mine online, but I tried them on in a store before. You want to make absolutely sure you get a good fit. Oh yeah and apparently my pinkie toe is so incredibly tiny, it doesn't like to stay in its little home, but it doesn't bother me!

Monday Night Roadtrip

Monday was not my normal Monday night. I went with Andy and Marie to Lexington's Rupp Arena for the Flyleaf, Breaking Benjamin, 3 Days Grace concert. Roadtrip!

Marie's dad pretty much runs things around Rupp so he made up feel like VIP's....coming in the back door. Telling the parking attendant we were with him and him waving us through...and then as we are walking around in the basement we see Flyleaf equipment boxes! How cool! Her dad walked over to an office (to get us earplugs-no we aren't old...I will explain later) and there sat the setlist from one of their shows last week. I was sooooo tempted to snag it but instead just took a picture! I was very excited!

Okay so on to the earplugs....they are awesome! They drown out the background noise and let you just hear the music really well! Oh and that annoying eeeeeeeeeeee noise that you can't get rid of hours later when you are trying to fall asleep.....not there! We didn't have to scream at each other in the car on the way home. I think they are my new concert accessory!

Well, we sure did have a blast...oh and here's another Monday oddity....we had soft serve ice cream between two of the bands coming on to play.....no where else can I say I have done that! Awesome Monday!

Out of shape!

So back on January 15th, I went back to the doctor and was cleared to run...in a straight line, haha. I have since been working out 3-4 times a week, running 1.5 miles or so each time in addition to some other stuff.

Fast forward to this weekend. My crazy husband has been in Nashville helping move snow around down there. Something like they use 50 trucks here when it snows and they only have 8 down there, 7" of snow and most of the parking lots have been driven on for the last two days and now have 2" of packe ice.....yikes! Anywho....back here where it is never pretty in the winter, it has been beautiful and sunny for the past two days. I decided the dogs would love to go to Winton Woods today and it was very nice b/c there weren't many people there.

We walked/ran the loop twice....only 3 miles.....and they were loving every minute of it. Until we got home......

They went outside.....ate dinner.....and then this.......

can we say.....out of shape much? I guess its my fault....they don't get to go to the YMCA.

First Time!

So since going gluten free in June, I have baked very little....for obvious reasons. I have made a few loaves of bread and corn muffins from mixes but the sheer amount of ingredients in gluten free baking scared me. Marie to the rescue! Marie is my very baking talented friend who was sweet enough to make me a pre-mixed gf flour! So tonight....I went out on a limb!


I decided to make gingersnaps from this wonderful website.


I was supposed to make 1" balls which I thought I was doing but they all "melted" together and I realized maybe my cookie baller is bigger....oh well, it didn't affect the taste. They are fabulous!

She says on her site that she likes a little less spice and I would have to say I like more so next time I will probably double the ginger and cloves, but the texture of these things is amazing! They are chewy in the middle, crispy on the edges.....just like regular cookies!


Oh! and another secret I learned. All my life I have used cooling racks for cookies, which usually results in half the cookies falling apart or coming out with little cris-crosses on the bottom. Solution?.....Newspaper! Yep, put your cookies on newspaper to cool. Not only does it leave you with flat bottoms, it sucks some of the extra grease (ie: calories:) out of the cookies! I can't wait to make her chocolate chip cookies.....oh and I am determined to make my own gf Somoas....or Carmel DeLites....depending on what part of the Girl Scout country you live in.

Christmas Crazies!

So, are you done with Christmas shopping? We pretty much are, mostly due to my wonderful shopper of a husband. Weird right? Heres the gist of it....

He doesn't like to shop the rest of the year but will go with me.....just if you ask any questions about how things look you always get the same answer so you might as well not ask.

He adores, no, loves....no, pretty much worships Black Friday. Its totally weird to me. Before we were together I hardly shopped that day at all. Our big day was the day after Christmas.

Two years ago he went with his aunts to an Outlet center 1 1/2 hours from here for their midnight madness Black Friday sale.....I stayed at home and slept like a normal human.

But honestly, most years he is out by 4 or 5am and I meet him around 9.

This year, with Old Navy doing their craziness, he was there at 2:30am. I still didnt' meet him till 10:00 am but we were out till around 3 or 4pm. That means he literally shopped for about 12 hours!

Are you jealous? I would be.....I mean, its the weekend before Christmas and I think we only have 2 more gifts to buy. Its a very nice situation.

Now, unfortunately, wrapping is still my job!

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge

This week's challenge is Pets only and since I took this of my Somoa just over a week ago, I had to enter it! She's a great model and loves the camera but I absolutely loved how the colors and glow came out in this picture in front of our tree!

Dog Sleepovers

Its been a couple of weeks now, but we had a Bassett Hound named Daisy stay with us for a few days. It was fun and interesting. Many of you know that Somoa thinks she rules the roost so we knew that we needed to watch her. She snarled a couple of times and showed her ugly side but all in all, it was a fun adventure.

While they were not fond of it, here all three of them are in our front doorway. It was a lot of sit and stay commands and notice they aren't all in focus. It was a good try anyways.



This is definitely Daisy's favorite spot......other than my couch! :) I usually came home to her waggin her tail standing on the sofa very excited to see me! She was way more excited when Jeremy came home though. Definitely liked him!


Oh and see, Somoa is lying peacefully next to Daisy!


I couldn't resist capturing a few classic Bassett Hound pictures. The ears, the feet, the sad sad eyes!



These feet are strong but unfortunately not long enough to keep poor Daisy's ears out of everything. She has a special water bowl for that but the week she stayed with us it rained a bunch and the grass would get her ears wet every time! I felt bad for her but I guess she is used to it! We had fun with her visit! She's a real sweetheart!