Asheville!

Well, I just got home from the Asheville trip with the fam. It was fun, but slightly annoying because my mom refuses to go walk around to all the cute little shops downtown, and instead sticks to the mall. Now, I am all for shopping in any type of setting, but I just LOVE downtown Asheville, and I only got to wave at it as we sped past on our way to the mall. Oh well. Heres a pic recap.

My sister and her friend, Anothney.They look excited huh?!

My littlest sis Tatum (I call her Taber)

I think someone mentioned on another post how I look nothing like my sister, and its true. I actually have three sisters, all with curly black hair, dark skin, and blue eyes. Me? Blonde, straight hair, pale as a ghost, and brown eyes. I MAY be the milk mans baby.

Back to the pics:

Beautiful scenery on the drive up

Gorgeous mountains of Tennessee/North Carolina

Arriving in Downtown Asheville

Apparently someone is REALLY proud of their name, and sub-par graffiti skillzz.

Pilot + Co-pilot

Going through the infamous tunnel. Its like 5 miles long, but we always try to hold our breath all the way through. If my mom feels like being a jerk, she'll drive about 10MPH through it.

Old lady jammies make me jump for joy!

In other news, I was completely exhausted when I got home. Shopping does it to me everytime! But I really wanna to stick with my training schedule, and I knew tomorrow would be my rest day because I have to work 9 hours tomorrow! So, right when I got home I threw on my running gear and went for DAY #3 of training. Today called for a tempo run for 35 minutes. Since I just had a time to stick to and not a milage, I decided to run on one of my fave trails today. I have no way to track milage yet, so I have to stick to the treadmill if I have a milage goal. Anyways, usually it takes me about 30 minutes to get around the trail once, but today I was struggling to get in 30 minutes after TWICE around! I really surprised myself, because it is VERY hilly too. I walked the last 5 minutes and made it twice around in 35 minutes. I was so curious as to what the milage was, so I decided to drive it in my car for a rough estimate. Roughly, it was about 1.5 miles around...and I did twice, in 35 minutes, AND it was hilly!! I even took a pretty easy run since I was so tired. So I was pretty happy with this!

Ok...I was planning on taking a shower and getting in bed. But I just received a text from my friend saying I better come play a game of pool ASAP. And who would I be to disappoint?! So I'm off!

Hope everyone had a great day today! Lots of Love, <3 Ems.

Checkin' Off the To-Dos

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! I hope everyone is having a good one, and celebrating with lots of green and maybe beer?! Or not...whatever floats ya boat ;) Today has been pretty busy and successful! I started out just NOT motivated to do anything, but I turned off that negative voice and started about my day.

FIRST something new, I went to the college that I graduated from in December and met with the head of the Nutrition Program there to possibly re-enroll and get a second degree in dietetics. Not 100% sure yet, but it is an option that has come up and I was just looking into more info about it. It is definitely something that interests me, and I think that I would have more success in the career path if I had more of a range (and having two degrees is a good range). The lady was super nice and super encouraging. The next step is to talk to admissions and finical aid and see what my options there are. Its something to consider at the very least.

SECOND, I got day two of training for a faster 10K out of the way. My training schedule had me at running an easy 3 miles today, so I ran it in about 35 minutes, and then cooled down for 5 minutes. After that I did 20 minutes on the eliptical. I kept the eliptical very low paced though, because I dont want to wear out my legs. Tomorrow I am just scheduled to run for 30 mintues. Its supposed to be a nice day, so I'll probably be doing that one on the running trial that I like.

THIRD, I came home and made lunch. For the first time since fall started I was not in the mood for a warm sammie, I wanted a cold one. So that is what I had. With the last apple on the side. MAN it is time for a grocery trip. guess I didnt get everything done!

Close-Up/Break-Down:

• Wheat Bread
• Turkey
• Spinach
• Greek Style Hummus
• Cucumber
• Sprouts
• Salsa
• Spicy Mustard

After I gobbled up my lunch I went BACK to the gym for a yoga class that I noticed they were having at my gym tonight. It said it was a beginners class, so I thought it would be nice to just go and get all stretched out from my running. It was a pretty good class...but it was TOTALLY for beginners, people were not taking it too seriously and they were laughing and falling all over the place, so it was sort of distracting. I liked the teacher though, so Im going to see if she has a more advanced class that she teaches. At the end of the practice she said something SO good. It was a story and it went something like this:

"One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.
He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.
As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of theanimal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!"

MORAL: Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can either let those troubles bury us alive or use them to get ahead, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

I really took this to heart. I think that a lot of times I let things get to me and I get angry or upset when troubles come my way. But instead, I need to see those troubles as stepping stones and shake it off and use the experience to get ahead!

I just got home from yoga and now I am gonna shower and get ready to go an irish pub downtown with Britt to celebrate the holiday. Nothing too crazy tonight though, she has class tomorrow at 9 and I'm taking an Asheville trip tomorrow morning with the fam. Pics to follow!!

Everyone be safe and have fun tonight if you are celebrating!

Lots of Love, <3 Ems.