Can I Just Cry Now?

Super stressed lately. Here's a couple reasons why:

Please no.

My baby telling me he didn't make Varsity soccer team after three stressful days of tryouts :(

This is just two of the many reasons this week is kicking my ass. I'm emotionally and physically exhausted. I started this post with the intention of writing more, but this is all I have the energy for right now. Ugh.

Can I just cry now? 

It's another Throwback Thursday!

I was looking through some old photos lately and thought I would share some of my favorites. Some make me laugh, some make me want to cry, and some were just too interesting not to share.

Enjoy!

Let's start off with a little something to make you chuckle. If this picture doesn't scream "I'm a dork who grew up in the 80's!" then I don't know what does. Loving the denim vest, puffy hair, and of course my supremely awesome coke-bottle glasses. Gosh, I was so darn cool I can barely stand to look at myself!

This is definitely one of the pics from the "interesting" category. I can't believe I actually used to have this haircut. I was about 20 years old in this picture.

With Varsity Soccer tryouts coming up next week for my son, I thought this picture was appropriate. Also coming up next week is his 17 birthday. He is sooooo adorable it makes my heart melt. Where has my little boy gone? **tear**

This next little series of photos is from my son's 8th birthday. When I asked him what he wanted, he said "ummmm, tuna". So of course, being the smart aleck that I am, I called everyone and asked them to bring a can of tuna wrapped up. It was the funniest thing ever and everyone played along. As you can tell by the looks on his face as he kept opening can after can of tuna, he was not impressed with this little prank. I still don't think he has forgiven me to this day.

This is one of my favorite pictures of us together. I don't know why, but it just is. It's from Chucky Cheese in 2003.  

Hubs is so smokin' hot in this cowboy hat. I have always loved this picture of him! We were on our way to have some drinks in Wisconsin Dells on a summer night in 2005. Good times!

This is me and my bestest best friend forever. We were out on the town for my birthday in 2006, and later that night I rode a mechanical bull. I'll spare myself the embarrassment of posting any pictures of that! We always have so much fun together, and I sure do miss her soooo much.

 







Since this is supposed to be a blog about running, here's the three of us at our first-ever race in 2011. Hubs even got second place in his age bracket! Pretty good for a guy who had just gotten home from the bar a few hours ago. Ha!

I saved the best for last. This is my parents from waaaaay back, I'm sure before I was even thought of. I absolutely love, love, love this picture. They are so young, and my Mom looks absolutely beautiful! (If you are wondering what they are looking at, there was actually a third person in this picture that I cropped out. Sorry, lady!)



I think most of us don't often think about what our parents were like before we were born, but I actually wonder about it a lot. Whenever I think about it, this picture always comes to mind and it makes me smile. Also, don't you think I look JUST LIKE my mom?? If I had dark hair and stood at this angle, I almost don't think you could tell us apart! 

That wraps up this edition of Throwback Thursday.

~Fluffy Girl~

Best. Present. Ever.

So I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's Day, but I must admit this one was pretty good. Hubs and I had agreed not to celebrate, but of course he still got me a little something anyways. It was meant more as a joke but actually turned out to really come in handy.

Yup, that is exactly what you think it is folks. A rolling pin. And he wasn't even wanting me to bake anything!

The other day I was talking about foam rolling, and I mentioned that it would be a lot less awkward if I had something handheld "like a rolling pin" to roll out my IT band which has been hurting like hell lately. So, being the awesomely wonderful husband that he is, he actually got me a rolling pin! And guess what--it works like a charm on my IT band. Thanks babe!

Then Hubs took me to a new (to us anyways) restaurant, and it was absolutely delicious. We were a little nervous when the GPS started taking us in the direction it did, but it turned out to be okay. We went super early to beat the rush, and it's a good thing we did because the place filled up fast.

Loved their V-Day message. LOL!

We started off with an appetizer:

BBQ Deviled Eggs (there was meat mixed with the yolk & BBQ sauce on top)

We weren't sure about the egg/meat mixture at first, but they were really good. My favorite part was the dab of BBQ sauce on top.

And then these two whopping plates of food:

This was an insane amount of food, and of course we took a full box of leftovers home. Everything was really good, and the service was great. Hubs did a really good job picking out this place!

That pretty much wrapped up our night--by the time we stuffed ourselves with all this yummy goodness, all we had the energy to do was go home and lay on the couch. And of course I had to try out my new rolling pin, so I did that while we caught up on our DVR.

Juding from this display at Walmart, the marketing department had their own ideas about how to spend Valentine's Day. Ha!

~Fluffy Girl~







Little White Lies

When I was running the other day I was thinking about {wow, some actual fluffy girl running thoughts this time!} how often people (including myself) lie. I'm not talking about the big whoppers, just the little white ones. I think most of the time we tell little white lies in order to avoid conflict or spare someone's feelings. I do it all the time (mostly to avoid conflict at work), and the more I thought about it the more it bothered me.

I used to be a very outspoken person and had no problem telling people what I thought or felt. Some might say that I matured and "grew my filter" as someone once put it, but I'm not completely sold on that philosophy. I think my filter is screwed on a little too tight these days.

Sometimes you just need to tell the truth instead of pussy-footing around to make everyone feel warm and fuzzy inside.

For example, look at the way society has changed in terms of raising/teaching children. "Everyone's a winner, everybody did a great job, life is wonderful" yada yada yada.  I personally do not agree with this mindset. Our children need to know when they have done something wrong and how to own up to their mistakes. We need to push our children to do better, try harder, and be competitive. Children need to know that life isn't always easy, and we should teach them how to cope with that reality. Society today is grooming our children to be weak, lazy, and feel a sense of entitlement that they don't deserve. It drives me crazy when I see people praise children for things that should be a standard in the first place. And don't even get me started on playing organized sports "for fun". I just can't.

Before I started this blog, I read lots of articles about the do's and don'ts of the blogging world. I was a little surprised at how often it was mentioned that you should always be positive in your blog posts. Isn't that a little unrealistic (and fake)? Life has its constant ups and downs, and I think we should share our real feelings and experiences so we can learn from eachother.  I don't plan to follow this "rule" of blogging, because guess what--I'm going to have bad days just like everyone else, and if I feel like venting then I'm going to do it. Sorry readers, but I'm not going to be fake and lie to you by pretending that I'm perfect.  

Moving on to a different point....lying in the workplace to avoid conflict. I am completely guilty of this because I do it every single day. I currently work for a man who admittedly goes out of his way to be a complete jerk every chance he gets. A majority of the time I just try to ignore whatever ignorant thing he just said to me and then evacuate the room as soon as possible. There are a couple issues that I call him out on, but for the most part I never say what I'm actually thinking even if he asks for my opinion. This is where my reluctance to tell the truth really bothers me. If I had met him ten years ago, I wouldn't have kept my mouth shut. I think I need to bring some of that unfiltered truth back into my life and stop being so passive. I'm not sure how, why or when exactly this change happened, but it's time to put an end to it.

Having said all that, I don't want anyone to think that I'm promoting hate, bullying, shaming, ignorance, pessimism, acting like a crazy beotch, or any other such nonsense. I generally am a positive person, but I'm also realistic and know that life just isn't all rosy and smiley. Sometimes people need to hear the truth, and the truth might hurt--but the delivery of such information is what is key. If you practice some tact and grace, even a hurtful truth can be expressed in a way that won't damage someone's self worth.

A Special Kind of Crazy

Another Monday.....how in the world does time keep flying by so darn quickly?!

This weekend was pretty fun, and we got to see something we've never seen before. I love living on the East Coast and always having something going on in the area to go do/see. What we saw this weekend at Virginia Beach was borderline insane!



Rescue Squads hit the waves first

It's almost time!

And there they go.

It was pretty darn cold and windy on the oceanfront, and I don't even want to think about how frigid that water was. I gotta hand it to these people--they are a special kind of crazy.

What was the highlight of your weekend?

Have you ever done (or would you do) a Polar Plunge?

~Fluffy Girl~

Tweet-Tweet and Throwback Thursday

Big news: I finally joined the tweeting world! I have been toying with the idea for quite some time, so I finally bit the bullet and signed up to see what all the fuss is about. I'm going to give it 30 days and see what happens. The experience of using Twitter would probably be more fun if I had some followers, so hit me up @thatgirouxgirl and I will follow you back :)

A year ago, Hubs and I were boarding the Carnival Fantasy for our "honeymoon" cruise to the Bahamas. I guess five and a half years late was better than never! We had a great time that first night--I wish we could go back and do it again.

All Aboard!

The second day...not so much. Hangover + Seasickness + Boat almost tipping over = Not much fun.

We ended up being small-time celebrities on that boat because we participated in (and won!) The Newlywed Game. I'm pretty sure Hubs dancing onstage in only some Cookie Monster boxers and a bowtie made the biggest lasting impression. Thank goodness for video cameras, because we will be able to relive that glorious moment over and over with the DVD that Carnival gave us of the show. I can't wait to whip that out when we have grandkids to show them how young and cool we once were. Ha!

What is your favorite social media platform and why?

Have you ever been on a cruise? If so, did you get seasick?

Where did you go for your honeymoon?

~Fluffy Girl~

I Double-Dog Dare You

Have you ever had a "moment" that made you wonder about your own sanity? I had one of those moments yesterday.

I was at Lowe's getting some supplies for work and there was a little girl and her mother in front of me in line at the checkout. The mother was scolding the little girl for something she had done wrong and she just kept going on and on. I was getting a little annoyed myself at the mother's endless rant when all of a sudden the little girl turned around and screamed at the top of her lungs. And it was L-O-U-D. The mother immediately clamped her hand over the girl's mouth and pulled her aside. When she stopped, the mother asked the girl why she was screaming and the girl said "Because it feels good."

The girl's response stuck in my mind as I paid for my stuff and walked out to the truck. I tried to remember the last time I had actually screamed. Not like a "woohoo" kind of scream you do at a concert or sporting event--but a real, blood curdling scream like you are so scared by something that you wet your pants. I do remember a screaming phase I went through when I was little, but that didn't last long because my brother would pound the snot out of me every time I did it.

Since I couldn't exactly pinpoint the last time I had screamed, I figured I was about due for a good ear-popping one. As I was driving back to the shop, I let out a little blurp. It wasn't much, but I was surprised by how loud it seemed. I'm generally a pretty quiet person so this was beyond my usual decibal range. I tried it again..and then again...and one more time before I started to feel a little weirded out by this strange experiment I was doing. I felt a little crazy doing it, but I decided to give it one more try and to make it a really good one. And guess what--that little girl was absolutely right. It felt so good that I laughed at myself for not figuring this out sooner. I think I have found a new stress management tool!

I'm sure some of you are thinking, wow she has definitely gone off the deep end this time. But I double-dog dare you to try it for yourself. Go somewhere--preferably where nobody will be alarmed and think you are being murdered--and scream it out. Think about all the things that have been stressing you out, all the hurt you feel inside, all the anger you have been bottling up, and just let it all out. You will be glad you did, I promise.

Maybe there really is something good about all that "screamo" music.....

 

~Fluffy Girl~

Escaping the Funk

The last week of January was a total drag for me. I tried several times to produce something worth reading, but every post I started to write became an angry rant so I deleted every single one. I finally escaped my emotional funk on Saturday, which resulted in a spontaneous decision to sign up for a 10k that took place on Sunday. I'm so glad I did it--the adrenaline rush of the race gave me a new wave of motivation and focus.

Ready, Set, GO!

Another medal for my growing collection :)

Got a new 10k PR on the books! 

It's hard to believe my half marathon is only 40 days away--it is coming up super fast. I'm hoping there isn't any more snow/ice this winter so I can get back on track with my training schedule and pull off that half marathon PR I'm gunning for. I'm also thinking about signing up for another 10k that is coming up on March 1 for a little extra motivation to train harder. Who knows, maybe I could also beat the 10k PR I just made yesterday! Wow, two PR's in one month. Can I handle it?! I think so :) 

There's something magical for me about participating in races . Some people don't get it and say, well you can run for free--why pay to run in races? I'm not sure exactly what it is...the excitement, the adrenaline, the competitiveness, the camaraderie, the race against yourself to obtain a new PR, the race swag...I guess a combination of all those things is what makes them special. Now what I really need is to find some running buddies to make races even more fun! 

Who's in??

~Fluffy Girl~