A Thankful Month

As I look back on my list of thankfulness over the past month, I'm again aware of how much I really do have to be thankful for!

1. A quiet and productive evening at home.
2. An awesome spin class, with an instructor who knows how to kick my butt!
3. My nice warm house!
4. My husband and father-in-law who make a great fix-it team!
5. A day spent with my Mom, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law!
6. An extra hour of sleep!
7. A job I enjoy.
8. My health.
9. The ability to make healthy choices.
10. A warm workplace, house, and car!
11. A day off.
12. The ability to run an incredible race with some amazing women (more details soon!)
13. A restful and relaxing Sunday.
14. A few peeks of sunshine through the dark clouds.
15. An evening at home to get things done.
16. The incredible group of girls in my small group at youth group!
17. Spending time with family.
18. A productive day off.
19. A husband who is willing to watch "girly" movies with me, and even enjoy them! (He took me to see Breaking Dawn!)
20. My church family.
21.  Another day...even if it is a Monday!
22.  My puppy who can always make me smile
23.  A new baby in the family...congrats Kim and Eric :)
24.  That both of my families get along well!
25.  The means to buy the things we need, and some things we just want.
26.  My husband and everything about him!
27.  A 4 day weekend!
28.  Food :)
29.  Self-discipline.
30.  A gorgeous sunshiney day!

Friend Makin' Monday: Holiday Shopping

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving weekend!  I'll try to post about ours later this week, along with the continuation of my November Thankfulness list!  But now it's time for a quick Friend Makin' Monday post...

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

Do you like to shop? Usually!

Have you started shopping for Christmas gifts yet? Yes!  I have about 75% of my shopping done and wrapped!
Did you shop on Black Friday? If so, what did you buy? I did!  We got up at 3 am on Friday to head to Menard's.  Our big purchases were a dog bed, dog toys, work lights for our basement, and some Christmas gifts.  Totally worth the savings and the atmosphere was so fun!
List a few of your favorite stores. Target, Kohls, Peter's Gourmet Outlet
What is the last thing you purchased for yourself (food and drinks excluded?) A candle.
Do you prefer to shop in-store or online? Both!  I love the convenience of shopping online but I like to be able to try on clothing in stores.
If you could purchase one thing that you don’t need at all for yourself today, what would it be? Probably some kind of workout equipment...
Does your significant other shop with you? Do they love it/hate it? Sometimes...Mike rarely comes grocery shopping with me, but he'll go other places with me.  Typically he doesn't complain unless I add in extra stops, but there are definitely things he'd rather be doing.
Do you shop at thrift stores? Occasionally.

When you’re holiday shopping, do you make lists? Yes!  I'm totally a list person!  It's the only way I can keep everything straight!

It's Your Day!

Happy 23rd birthday Mike!  I'm so thankful to have you in my life.  I love you more and more every day!

5k Results

The race results have (finally) been posted, so now I can tell you about my most recent 5k on November 12th.  This race was really special because I was able to run it with a group of friends from church, Jennifer, Karen (and her husband and son), Kim, Bekah (Kim's daughter), and Erica.  I loved the race course because it was flat and well marked!  And, I have to say, the post-race refreshments were the best I've had yet!

Getting ready to begin

My original training plan was to complete a 5k each month through the summer in preparation for a 10k in October.  However, a stress fracture way-laid those plans and I didn't run a single race between June 28 and November 12.  This was my comeback, and I did make a nice comeback!  I crossed the line with an official time of 28 minutes and 13 seconds!  This was my best race yet by 1 minute and 8 seconds; I ran my fastest mile times ever too!

So get this though, they start to announce the awards and I figured I'd stick around to see what place Karen's husband took. All a sudden they called my name...I took 3rd place of the females in my age division. Whoo hoo! Shout out also to Karen who took 3rd in her age division and her husband who took 1st in his. What a day for all of us!

3rd place medal--very surprised and thrilled!

Our little group of runners

Just so I can keep track of it, and if you want to see my progress, here are my past race results:
3/12/11--Black River Rat Race--31:51
4/16/11--Lamont River Run--30:33 (not chipped)
5/28/11--Kick Off to Summer Run--31:12
6/28/11--Zeeland Zoom--29:21
11/12/11--Paradise Bound--28:13 (not chipped)

Playing Catch-Up

I have to admit, I'm not doing too well at posting my thankful list every day.  However, that certainly doesn't mean that I don't have things to be thankful for!


1. A quiet and productive evening at home.
2. An awesome spin class, with an instructor who knows how to kick my butt!
3. My nice warm house!
4. My husband and father-in-law who make a great fix-it team!
5. A day spent with my Mom, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law!
6. An extra hour of sleep!
7. A job I enjoy.
8. My health.
9. The ability to make healthy choices.
10. A warm workplace, house, and car!
11.  A day off.
12.  The ability to run an incredible race with some amazing women (more details soon!)
13.  A restful and relaxing Sunday.
14.  A few peeks of sunshine through the dark clouds.
15.  An evening at home to get things done.
16.  The incredible group of girls in my small group at youth group!
17.  Spending time with family.
18.  A productive day off.
19.  A husband who is willing to watch "girly" movies with me, and even enjoy them!  (He took me to see Breaking Dawn!)
20.  My church family.

Saving Money on Healthy Items

I discovered a new website the other day and I'm super excited about it!  Excited enough to share it with you! 

The website is called VitaCost and it offers reduced cost vitamins, supplements, and other healthy items!  It is the internet's leading wholesale nutritional supplement store.  But it offers so much more than just supplements...

I've been dealing with knee pain from running, and I told Mike I wanted to start taking glucosamine to see if that would help.  I found some on VitaCost for a fraction of what I would have paid in the store.  I also found garlic powder at an insanely low price!  There are so many things I would love to buy, and I know in the future I will because the prices are so low.  Things like: flax seeds, rice flour, almond butter, protein powders, baking mixes.  Seriously, I could go on and on!

My nutritionist/chiropractor has me on a Thyroid complex and Trace B-12 supplement right now, along with fish oil.  They were not cheap to buy from her, but I found them for so much cheaper at VitaCost and I'll be ordering my next round there!

I really like how they ship your order out the same day (if you order before 4pm) and shipping is a flat fee of $4.99 (free for orders over $49!) There are constantly deals, both a weekly and daily special, on top of their already lower prices.

I'm sharing this with you because I know how much you like to save money, and I know some of you are on a health journey as well.  Right now, VitaCost is also offering referral rewards.  This means when you sign up through my link, we both get $10 to spend!  (Then you can invite your friends and get rewards from them!)  It's a win-win for both of us.  You can get $10 worth of free products and only spend $4.99 for the shipping...can't go wrong with that!  Give it a try and let me know what deals you found :)

November Thankfulness Continued...

Can you believe November is almost halfway over?  And Thanksgiving is next Thursday?  Me neither!  Time is just flying by!

Today, I'm thankful for...


1. A quiet and productive evening at home.
2. An awesome spin class, with an instructor who knows how to kick my butt!
3. My nice warm house!
4. My husband and father-in-law who make a great fix-it team!
5. A day spent with my Mom, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law!
6. An extra hour of sleep!
7. A job I enjoy.
8. My health.
9. The ability to make healthy choices.
10. A warm workplace, house, and car!
11.  A day off.
12.  The ability to run an incredible race with some amazing women (more details soon!)
13.  A restful and relaxing Sunday.
14.  A few peeks of sunshine through the dark clouds.

As for me...

A few weeks ago Mike and I (finally) saw the movie Courageous.  If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it.  We were both touched and inspired by it.  At the end of the movie (right before the credits) a verse comes on the screen.  Joshua 24:15--As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.  Mike commented to me about how much he liked that verse, and that was the inspiration for my most recent plate.

I wanted to put an emphasis on the words in red.  Try saying it outloud, with a bit of attitude on the red words! 

I love how this turned out, and Mike was quite please when I gave it to him.  Now we just have to find a place to display it!

The List Keeps Growing!

Today, I'm thankful for...
1. A quiet and productive evening at home.
2. An awesome spin class, with an instructor who knows how to kick my butt!
3. My nice warm house!
4. My husband and father-in-law who make a great fix-it team!
5. A day spent with my Mom, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law!
6. An extra hour of sleep!
7. A job I enjoy.
8. My health.
9. The ability to make healthy choices
10. A warm workplace, house, and car!

What are you thankful for?

So Much To Be Thankful For!

Today, I'm thankful for...

1.  A quiet and productive evening at home.
2.  An awesome spin class, with an instructor who knows how to kick my butt!
3.  My nice warm house!
4.  My husband and father-in-law who make a great fix-it team!
5.  A day spent with my Mom, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law!
6.  An extra hour of sleep!
7.  A job I enjoy.
8.  My health.

What are you thankful for?

Continuing Thankfulness

Today, I'm thankful for...

1.  A quiet and productive evening at home.
2.  An awesome spin class, with an instructor who knows how to kick my butt!
3.  My nice warm house!

4.  My husband and father-in-law who make a great fix-it team!
5.  A day spent with my Mom, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law!
6.  An extra hour of sleep!

What are you thankful for?

Working around the house

When we moved into our house, the only lighting in the kitchen was a set of 3 tracklights (and a dim little light over the sink).  I was constantly frustrated by the poor lighting because it made for really bad food pictures, and it was difficult to see anything in the evenings because the lights created so many shadows in the kitchen--I could barely read a recipe!  About a month into our marriage, Mike's dad rigged up the little contraption you see on the far left light bulb.  Have a bare bulb helped the light situation a little bit, but it certainly wasn't a good long-term solution!

Can you guess what my amazing husband and awesome father-in-law are planning to do?  Oh yes...I know they love me!  (Or they got sick of me complaining about the lack of lighting in our kitchen!)

After a few hours of hard work (I did help!), this was the result...

Beautiful can lights in my kitchen!  It really is incredible what a difference these lights make!  My kitchen is nice and bright now, I can take decent food pictures inside, and I can read recipes without turning every light in the vicinity on!  Thank you Mike and Pops! :)

Today, I'm thankful for...

1.  A quiet and productive evening at home.
2.  An awesome spin class, with an instructor who knows how to kick my butt!
3.  My nice warm house!

4.  My husband and father-in-law who make a great fix-it team!

November Thankfulness

I'm sure I'm not the only person who has said this to you in the past 2 days, but it's worth saying again...  Can you believe it's already November?!?!  Seriously, where did time go?  I can't believe that we are already 10 months into 2011, only 2 months until 2012!  This year is just flying by!

We have been blessed with so much this year, and I feel like I have so much to be thankful for!  For the rest of the month, I'll be posting things that I am thankful for.  If you'd like to join me, feel free.  Let me know if you're joining in so that I can check your blog each day to see your growing list!  I'll do my best to post every day, but you all know how bad I am at that! :)

Today, I'm thankful for...

1.  A quiet and productive evening at home.
2.  An awesome spin class, with an instructor who knows how to kick my butt!