Closet Purge

Since the seasons are changing, it's time to make some changes around my house as well! Hi, my name is Ashley and I have inherited the habit of being a "pack rat".  Blame my mother! Then again, when I have gone to visit my dad, he might be just as guilty by the looks of his shop and all the things that have accumulated over the years.

Any way, I'm notorious for holding on to things for YEARS!!! This morning I decided to do a purge in my closet and really get rid of stuff that I haven't worn in forever and probably never will! I have been doing really good at donating things to a friend of mine who works with me, but I know I could do better. 

This morning, I went through my closet and just started pulling things out that had to go! I also went into another room of my house and gathered all the things that I planned on taking to Good Will, but they are still sitting in my house.

It's very freeing to get rid of all the clutter and I'm really trying to get better at not holding on to things. I don't want my kids to pick up this habit so I might as well break it now! :)

 

Doesn't really look like much, but there's a lot more where that came from!

How often do you purge your closet? I'm going to try to do this at least twice a year! Wish me luck! :)

Falling into Fall

Fall is here and it's actually becoming one of my favorite seasons! I'm hands down a summer kinda girl because I love the culture of summer, but fall is running a close second! I'm falling in love with the mild temperatures, boots, tights, scarves, pumpkin and apple flavored foods, the sporting events, the holidays, and the beauty of nature during this time of the year! 

About 2 years ago, I started to really marvel at all that fall had to offer. I usually just disregarded it because I was so bummed that summer was over, but now I stop and just enjoy all that comes along with this amazing season!

With new seasons comes new wardrobes! Due to weight loss, I decided to go out and get a few items because a lot of the stuff I was wearing last year around this time are now too big. Today I did some bargain shopping and snagged: a blazer, 3 shirts, a pair of skinnies, one pair of printed leggings, and a pair of boots all for about $80.00! I set a budget for myself and was way under after today's shopping extravaganza!!

I am also putting myself on a time out from buying any clothing that involves working out or going to work/church.  Let me explain! Lately, every time I go shopping, I have found myself buying more and more workout clothes and/or clothes that are  mainly appropriate for going to work or church.  When it's time for me to go out to something casual like dinner/drinks with friends, or some other social event, I'm stuck with looking like Workout Wanda or Conservative Connie.  I find it very difficult to try to find something to wear and end up having to go out and buy something.  Well I don't have to buy, but I do. 

There are a few things I want to get to set the season off, but I can definitely wait until fall is turning into winter and when stores put more items on sale! I love shopping "off season"! Deals and steals is my way to go about shopping on a budget! 

Happenings on my social calendar for October

1. VT's homecoming

2. Jaime's engagement party

3. Landy's wedding

What do you like best about fall? Is this one of your seasons as well?

Coffee please

A little late, but I'm hopping on that coffee bandwagon!

I feel like "needing" coffee is half I need the caffeine to wake up and half social.  Well maybe it's social for me....I mean I feel so cozy when I have my coffee. In fact, I feel like this.....with every cup! 

and sometimes like this....

LOL like no bull....I imagine myself in the comfy jammies or cute fall accessories enjoying my cup of Joe! 

I have attempted to limit myself to only drinking a cup on Mondays and Fridays as a treat since I love to put lots of cream in my coffee. I used to head over to Starbucks once in a while for a skinny vanilla latte and then got up on the hype of the infamous pumpkin spice latte [PSL].  Oh but the last time I went and dropped that almost $5.00 on a tall latte...I was like forget this! 

I now fill up at the local 7-11.  I'm so not a coffee snob and don't mind pouring and flavoring my own cup for $1.26 when I use my reusable cup! Schweet deal and I love it!!!

I'm hopping not to feel like I need it every day, but hey...I hear that can happen! I don't want to be one of those zombie-types who swear they can't function before having the Joe! That may be doing way too much! So are you a coffee drinker? If so, is it a "need"? 

The elimination of CAN'T

I've been highly motivated lately to rid my vocabulary of the word "can't".  After finishing my half marathon two weeks ago, I realized I most certainly can do anything I set my mind to! I know that sounds so cliche and so elementary (you can be whatever you want to be lol), but a lot of things in life is really more mental than anything at all.  

When I was in 6th grade, I signed up to run track because my older sister was on the team.  I was placed as a long distance runner.  My event was to run the mile. Every time we had a meet, I would run my mile in roughly 13 minutes, then pass out at the finish line.  Oh and did I mention, I was always LAST to finish!! Well except one time, I came in 1st to last....some girl trailed me...I totally felt her pain of losing! I had been in her shoes for every other meet, but felt some sort of victory for beating her, but I digress.  Anyway, I eventually quit the team because my doctor discovered I had asthma. Umm....I think that was more my mom and I convincing the doctor than me having a real medical problem. 

My sister once said to me "you're not dedicated enough".  She actually always said that to me when I would try something hard, and as much as I didn't want to admit it then, she was right.  I realized dedication and hard work will get you anywhere in life. You'll go far! You'll move mountains! Persistence is also a key factor that I lacked back then.  

Now that I'm older, wiser, and have seen the benefits of working hard and yielding results, I have decided that I won't say "I can't" anymore! I will strive to try everything at least once and if I fail, I will learn from the failed experience.  After I finished the half, I felt like I couldn't imagine carrying on to do another 13.1 miles if I ran a full marathon, but I refused to say "I can't" ever get up to that point. I'm setting my mind to achieve greater things in life and not limiting myself! 

A lot of times, all we have to do is try and we'd be amazed at what we could accomplish! The other day I told my best friend I was going to attempt to unclog my sink and she said "you better call a plumber before you mess something up".  I refused to believe I needed assistance before trying it myself first! I went on YouTube, watched a tutorial, and BAM, I unclogged the sink with no problems! Had I listened to her, I would have claimed defeat before trying and assumed the task was too hard for me to do alone. I realized in that moment that the are SO MANY THINGS that we assume we can't do and we haven't even tried it to know it's not possible to do. 

So that's that....I'm taking the limits off....I'm not stopping myself with insecurities and self-doubt! I'm ready for the world! I CAN DO IT! 

13.1 miles....DONE!! I did it!!!

I'm so proud to say that this past weekend was my very first time running a half marathon and I FINISHED!!! I'm still high off the weekend....whew it was amazing!!!

RECAP!!!

I drove to Leesburg on Friday to meet Bih and Jamz to pick up our race packets at the runner's expo!

After the expo, we headed over to Vapiano's for a hearty pasta meal!! Gimme them carbs!!! I must say, it was my first time eating there and it was DELICIOUS!!!

Chicken alfredo with garlic and onions! Yum!!

After the expo and our carb fest, we headed to Jessica's house to meet up with her and Sasha.  We ended up finding our way back out to eat again that night. Bih and I just split an entree to keep it light.  I was uber excited so as soon as we got home, I was headed straight to bed! I laid out my race clothes and was ready to hit the sack especially since we were getting up so early in the morning (the race started at 7:30am).  

I decided on wearing a running skirt, tank, and a long sleeve top to wear in the beginning of the race since it was soooooo cold that morning! It was in like the 50s!!

We originally planned to leave the house at 6:00am because Bih wanted to get to the race site at 6:30 so we'd be there an hour before it started. We ended up not leaving until 6:30am and as soon as we got on the highway....this happened......

Oh and it continued....the...whole...way...to...the...race!!! Bumper to bumper freakin traffic!!! All I could think was..."this soooooo is not happening right now".  Oh but it most certainly did....HAPPEN!!! Turns out that over 4,000 people registered for this race and the lovely race people decided to have it a venue that only had a one way lane going in and out of the venue...thus..the delay! Ugghhh!! I prayed the whole time that we would still be able to run the race. I had worked so hard and to end up not being able to run because of this totally devastated me. 

Needless to say, we ended up making it to the race site around 8:50am!!! It took us 2 hours to get there when it should have only taken 30 minutes. Crazy bananas like ish!!! When we arrived at the site, we got out and hustled our buns to the starting line which really wasn't necessary because EVERYBODY was late due to this prior piss poor planning on behalf of the race officials. The race didn't end up starting until 9:00am (an hour and 1/2 after it was officially supposed to start).  

When we first got there, we got in line to use the bathroom (us and every other lady out there or so it seemed....lines were ridiculous).  Then I hear "last call for half marathon runners to the start line".  I was in a slight panic mode because we were behind! We were like the last people to take off and this caused me to be nervous and my mind was just all over the place. I took off running at a really fast speed thinking to myself "slow down....what are you doing!?" But I kept running at that speed and never slowed down! It's true what they say about the adrenaline rush you experience when you run these races. As we were running, I saw a lady who was about my height zip past me. I decided I would keep up with her throughout the race to stay on track. She looked like a serious athlete who would produce good results.  I kept up with her for like the first 5 or 6 miles with both of us alternating between getting in front of each other. I then spotted a woman who was clearly a senior citizen who was GETTING IT!!!! She inspired me so much!!! And due to the fact that she was running at a pace that was phenomenal, I decided to use keep up with her too (tall girl left me in her dust around mile 9...ah well...Gramz and I rolled tight). I congratulated the older lady at the end of the race and told her she was truly an inspiration! She turns 60 next month!! That's so awesome!!!

I was feeling really good and everything was going wonderfully despite the fact that the race course was really hard because there were sooooooooooooo many hills!!! And we were running on gravel at some points. We didn't reach a flat stretch until mile 7 through 10.  By mile 10...my right hip was cursing me out all kinds of terribly!! I was trying my bets to just keep running, but the pain was unbearable at some moments. 

Around mile 11, there was ANOTHER freaking hill! And not only was it a hill, it was a beast of a hill! Super steep and ridiculous! I power walked up it and just did the best I could. Also at mile 11, we were running through a neighborhood and a family was outside giving out cups of beer. I sure did help myself to a cup! I was so over this whole thing by this point in time and my hips were on fire! I grabbed a cup and chugged it down as fast as I could. I got a burst of energy after that for about a tenth of a mile, then it was back to a power walk.  

By mile 12, I was relieved to know it was almost over!!! I wanted to run the entire last mile, but I walked a little bit of it. I didn't start pushing through the pain until probably the last half mile.  I hobble to the finish line feeling like my hip was going to pop out of the socket. I was in so much pain, but I just kept going. I managed to pose for the camera so I could at least get a good race pic out of the deal! I can't wait to see what they look like.

 My friend Sasha captured this pic of me as I approached the finish line

You can see it on my face that the struggle was real! 

Waiting at the finish line were some HUNKS handing out the medals! I got my prized possession of a medal and put it on with PRIDE!!! I also then went to the fuel station and grabbed a banana and two chocolate chip cookies (dag they were good).  I was sooooo proud of myself after I finished!! It was one of the best feelings in the WORLD!!

Here I am post race! It felt soooo good to be done! I finished in 2 hours, 32 minutes, 07 seconds.  I wanted to finish in at least 2:30:00, but hey, for my first time, I'll take it! And with all those crazy hills, I definitely will take it with pride!!

Now I'm off to prepare for the "off-season".  This is just me getting stronger as I get ready for my next half  marathon that I'm going to run next year. From now until about April, I'll lift and get more power in my legs. I'll focus more on getting stronger and  just running a few times a week.  By April, it'll be time to start getting serious about training for another late summer/early fall half!!! 

Oh and I was super pressed to get this sticker and put it on my car STAT after the race!! It's official...I ran a half marathon and I'm proud!

Sunday Funday?

Today I experienced a little "fun" envy as I surfed through my social networking sites.  Still recovering from this sickness, I stayed in bed all day trying to rest up before work tomorrow.  

 

Everyone is soooooo excited about football season starting back up which further elicited several "Sunday Funday" posts! I do enjoy seeing all the fun that everyone's having, but it did make me feel a little lonely and isolated today. Uggghhhh these feelings of mine are all out of whack! It got so bad, that I started thinking about moving to another city because I felt like life here in my current location is secluded and blah. Then it dawned on me the problem is where I actually live. I truly do live away from everything and I'm seriously toying with the idea of either selling my house and moving back into the city or just renting it and moving back into the city.  Then there comes the idea of what am I going to do with all this stuff I've accumulated that fits nicely into a 3 bedroom townhouse, that wouldn't fit into a one bedroom apartment. I mean I really do like living in this area and have made some really good friends, but living almost 20 miles away from the action totally puts a damper on having a thriving social life.  

Had I not fallen ill to this dreadful cold, I originally planned to go to church this morning then head over to a friend of mine's family cookout to celebrate her and her mother's birthday.  If you know me, you know I love a good cookout with lots of food and people to fellowship with! I was totally bummed that I made the decision not to attend because I figured I needed to take full advantage of this day off to rest up and be fully healed for the upcoming week. 

Good news is that I discovered last night that the recommended dose of Mucinex D is two tablets instead of one, so I took that last night before bed along with two Advil's for the sinus pressure pain I was experiencing.  Last night was an amazing sleep and I woke up feeling good! The cough is still here (but it doesn't hurt) and the sinus pressure is still hanging around (but not too painful). I'm thankful that I truly am feeling better.  

My hair looks like "who shot John? And why?", yet my leopard print night gown is making me feel a tad bit fabulous. Hey, sometimes it's the little things that can make you feel sexy even when you really look like hell! 

On a lighter, less depressed note....I've started brewing up some ideas for my 30th birthday!!! It's in about 5 months and I really want to travel somewhere! I'm thinking of Phoenix!! I called my sister today to see if she'd be game to go with, but she has to figure some things out first before she can truly commit.  Hopefully things will work in my favor and I'll be hopping on a plane to a fun destination to ring in the next decade of my life! 

How was your Sunday? Have a great week! :)

One week until the 1/2

......and I'm sick!!!!!

Freaking GREAT!!! I so planned to do a long run today after a babysitting gig and the weather was absolutely perfect for it all!

This all started on Friday morning.  I woke up and wasn't feeling right, but figured I'd just shake it off. As the day went on, I progressively got worse! Today, I feel like a ton of bricks have hit me in the face....sinus pressure, running nose, cough, etc.

I'm taking some meds and the advice of many to get plenty of rest and to drink plenty of fluids. The only problem with the rest and the fluids is the frequent visits to the bathroom....BLAH! Kinda makes it hard to get some uninterrupted rest when you're up and down to the potty.

I'm hoping and praying for a full recovery by mid week. I'm taking it easy this weekend and just made a pot of homemade chicken noodle soup.  We'll see how this goes.

Hopefully I'll be able to be well enough to get another run in before the half, but I'm not going to push it. Things happen, and I've trained hard. I'm going to give it my all next weekend and hope for the best!

What I've learned about failure thus far

My trip to the library the other day consisted of picking up 4 new books that I was eager to read. One was a pre-planned selection, one was a book that I had decided I wanted to read earlier this summer, but never got around to it, and the last two were totally selected at random.

I chose the last two for the sole purposes of inspiring myself. I'm all into being inspired and after last week's horrible funk, I was still recovering from shaking it all off.  Things were getting better in my life and the bad times were slowly, but surely turning into better days. One of the books I picked up is The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons from Extraordinary Lives by Katie Couric.  I usually read the inside flap to determine if I want to read the book or not, and I was instantly sold to check it out. The introduction was also well written and drew me in as Katie explained what life for her has been like and some of the challenges she faced. She also talked about how she landed her job with ABC news when she was only 22 years old.

Basically, it started with her sending her resume and getting no response. Then it went on to her going up to the station, dressed to impress, and boldly requesting to talk to a man who could hire her. She was turned away by the receptionist. Desperate times called for desperate measures and she finagled her way in by calling someone who knew someone who knew the man she wanted to speak to and BAM...she was in there like swimwear for a chat with the head guy!

On Instagram the other night, Jordin Sparks posted a photo of herself back when she auditioned for American Idol and talked about how she was turned down at the LA audition, but was determined to try again regardless. She then went to audition in Arizona, won, got sent to Seattle for a second audition and made it. Her words of encouragement are: "I wouldn't be where I am today had I walked out that LA stadium with a quitters attitude."

Then there are the failure stories of Michael Jordan who didn't make the high school basketball team, Bill Cosby who performed in a big time night club for the first time and was told "YOU STINK", Dr. Seuss who was turned down time after time by publisher after publisher refusing to give his books a chance, and the list goes on!

It seems as if everyone I know or know of who is successful, has failed time and time again while trying to get to success. This basically tells me one thing about failure: it happens!

Things don't always work out the way we want them to.  We don't always get it right on the first try. If you quit, you'll never know.

Unfortunately, failure sometimes causes us to lose hope.  Sometimes we get down on ourselves and feel like we'll never get a break or things won't ever let up.  I have learned that it's ok to wallow in your disappointment, but when you get down, don't stay down! You've got to get back up and try again.

Failure is an inevitable part of success. With every success story, there is many stories of failure to accompany it. And the best part of it all, is that when you finally succeed, the victory is that much sweeter!

2 weeks until race day

I am officially in the last stretch of my half marathon training! Last weekend, I ran 13.12 miles for the very first time in my life!!! My training scheduled advised that I run 13.5 miles, but that 13.1 is all that it will take for the actual half so there you have it! I did it! The whole time I was running, I chanted a mantra in my head that goes like this "If you say you can't, you won't. If you say you can, you will".  And guess what...I DID!!

I am so proud of myself because I remember the day I nervously registered for this half marathon. Yes, I considered myself to be out of my mind and was taking a huge RISK! I had never ran more than 6 miles in one setting in my life and I never considered myself to be a "runner".  My sister along with my friend Bih on the other hand were true runners. They expressed a passion for it and had ran several races before.

I have developed a deeper appreciation for the sport mainly because I am so proud of what I'm doing. So many people put limitations on what they can do when they say "oh I can't even run around the block".  But you'd be surprised what you can do when you truly set your mind to it.

I'm looking forward to running and completing this race because it signifies that when you set a goal in your life and truly work hard, it can be achieved. I'll keep you all posted on how it goes after it's all said and done!

Wish me luck!!! :)

How do you get through....when you're going through?

Over the past couple of days, I've been in a constant struggle to choose to have a positive attitude.  I will admit, some days it has come naturally, but other days it has truly been a fight. Or so it has seemed that I'm waging an internal war with myself.  

I believe that having a good attitude despite what's going on in your life, is truly a choice. We are able to "trick" our minds into thinking everything is gonna be alright if we constantly focus on that saying instead of resorting to an easier way of thinking "this sucks and life is falling apart for me"...or as some eloquently express it "FML = f*ck my life".

Over the past couple of months, I feel like I've had this calling over my life to bring hope to others as well as to inspire them. Let my positive vibes rub off on them and perhaps make their lives just a little bit better. To inspire them when they are going through a hard time with something I may post on my Facebook or Instagram account.  

Then I thought, but what about me? Who's inspiring me? Is every day really this happy? What happens when I face a hard time?

 Let's be real here....

Well in the past couple of days...well actually the past couple of weeks, I've had to find answers to these questions.  The truth is, every day really isn't always a good one for me. I can recount a few times in the past week that I've experienced some symptoms of depression.  I wouldn't go so far to say I'm depressed, but I do feel like there has been a significant change in my mood for the worst. Maybe it's hormonal on top of some unfavorable events that have taken place....idk.  I just find myself seriously working to elevate my mood and keep it that way. Like this is a true job to be happy or something. 

I have done a lot of reflecting over these past couple of days and have decided that although I feel like I'm struggling right now, I have recognized that I still have a choice. Often times we don't want to choose to be positive despite what's going on because it's just so much easier to sleep all day, shut everyone else out of our lives for a few days as we shut down, drown our sorrows in a bottle of wine, or just simply feel sorry for ourselves. Oh and to jump on the opportunity to star in the latest episode of Woe is Me.  

But how do you get through when you're "going through"? Here's a start, think back to the last time you had something unfavorable happen in your life. You know that time when your life was crumbling and crashing all around you and you didn't know when the bull was going to be over with? Yeah, and then you remember back to the day of breakthrough. The day you finally made it to the other side of normal again and could smile without it being forced. Woohoo!! That was a great day!! It'll come again....as you choose to get there. Slowly and steadily better days are on the horizon. 

Embrace all those cliches that we kind of shy away from because no one wants to hear some worn out cliche when your life seems to be going in a direction that you had no intention of it to go. In conclusion, I had to tell myself something that I find to be so helpful when I'm "going through". 1. What is this experience teaching me? What can I learn from this that will make me better? 2.) Life is all about seasons, and seasons change whether you want them to or not. Every day is not going to be like summer.  Whether we like it or not, winter has a purpose too.  Look for the blessing in every lesson. Hope for a brighter day because we all know that it's eventually coming. 

...thanks for reading.... :)