10 K week two

Today was day one of week two, interval three of my 10K program..............and I'm still walking! About two hours after my run this morning I wondered how my day would progress. I was stiff! But I kept going about my day and now I feel back to normal. I'm up to 4K in run/walk intervals now. Aside from the large dog that scared the bejezzus out of me it was a great run this morning!

10 K week one

Today marked day two of week one of my 10K in 10 weeks program. I have to admit whilst jogging UP a hill this morning I thought "WHAT the HELL was I thinking!?" But after finishing this mornings interval training session I felt uplifted. I'm doing a program that works you up over 10 weeks to running 10K. When I got home I logged the rest of the training intervals into my runkeeper program and when I read the last one I thought "how cool would it be if I could do this?". Anyone who knows me knows I do not choose to run. I've never chose to run. If our horses get loose, I head for the front gate and close it, then persue the loose critters. I'm NOT going to chase them about willy nilly, sheesh, running makes you sweat ya know?

But mid winter I decided I needed to do something to get active, I'm not a gym kinda gal so I tried walking. Which lead to running (a bit). Then I saw this program and so far I like it, running in the morning gets me moving and seems to keep my energy up throughout the day. I like that I can just put shoes on and do something, I'm really going to try and stick with it while at Bead and Button. I'll have to use a treadmill there, it'll be interesting to see if I can master the treadmill and stick to the program while away from home.

Who knows maybe this will be me soon!

Favorite Tools -Laptop

Some how in my favorite tools blog posts I've managed to miss the one tool I spend a exceptional amount of time using, my laptop.

I have a MacBook, and I love it! I used to have a Toshiba somethingorother that crashed on a regular basis and got viruses so often I stopped counting. I futzed around on it for a very long time, cursing daily and wasting a lot of time waiting for it to decide to work.

Finally I decided enough was enough and it was time to get a new laptop. But what? Well a good friend and Mac loved talked me into getting a Mac. Boy, if I only knew what I'd been missing I'd have done it ages ago!

There was a bit of a learning curve involved but once I got it all sorted out I am amazed at how user friendly a Mac is. Coming with lots of softwear and tutorials to go with them it really has made my computer time less painful and more productive.

I've had my MacBook for about two years now and aside from dropping it, it's had no problems. The dropping issue was fixed amazingly fast, 24 hours and I had my laptop returned and backed up!

So shortly after the MacBook came the Iphone, and now I'm happily a Mac owner!

What sparks the feeling of failure?

Today I ran into an old friend I'd lost touch with. Someone I always enjoyed spending time with. Funny, caring, helpful, a devoted husband, and wonderful friend. He mentioned he was ill (again) and it hit me like a bus. I immediately felt like I'd failed at being a friend. I'd fell out of touch, not bothered to put myself out there, stayed home when I should have visited and just in general felt a huge empty heart.

I know in my head that these feelings aren't valid, that I am a decent caring person and life just gets in the way sometimes. But I can't help but feel like I often don't put myself out there enough. I tend stick to working in the studio, doing barn chores, errands and the like but often not reaching out to connect with friends. Locally for sure, it seems I often see my US friends more than my Canadian ones.

It's interesting what can spark feelings of failure and how it can affect our thoughts. Has anything sparked a feeling of failure with you?

Home

I got home last night and am finally settling in, I had a class today so it feels like I haven't really sat down for 24 hours!

I got home to new lumber being added to my raised garden bed and a HUGE bed being added in one empty spot in the garden. Not sure how I feel about the new bed. It's not really what I had planned for that area of the garden. I pictured a rambling trail with a few trees and pockets of plants. But, the bed was a bit of work to add and the lumber is heavy so I feel a bit bad saying I want it moved. But, I feel a bit pissy that it was added without my ok. I tend to get a bit possessive over my space and the things in it. Anyone who's seen how tidy my space is in contrast to my husbands clutter can probably understand.

How do you feel about people moving, adding or adjusting things in your space?

Friends that make you smile

I had a wonderful dinner last night with friends. Thai food and laughter, can it get any better than that? A movie, Water For Elephants, followed. More great friends to see at the movie. I love visiting Pt Townsend, it's a lovely city with amazing people and some of my best friends anywhere. I think if I was ever to move to the US this would be the place!

Favorite Tool - Bead Stopper

This is a handy little tool. It may seem very simple but it can prevent a lot of re stringing when assembling bracelets etc.

It's called a Bead Stopper. The little spring opens up and clamps around your stringing medium. I've used it on Fireline type medium, waxed cord, ribbon and elastic and it holds well on all of them. It holds pretty tight. I can pick my pieces up, and handle them quite a bit without the worry about the beads sliding off.

I like that I can work on assembling my piece without using crimps. I can take out or add beads without much hassle.

I purchased mine at Micheals. I've seen them in most bead shops. A small purchase that will save you a lot of grief!