1. Back in January I posted about a hike I went on called Mount Si. I received a comment from an artist asking if she could paint one of the views in the photos I shared, and OBVIOUSLY I said please do. She created such a beautiful piece of art, I especially love the tree like frame she used.
You can see more of Lorna’s art on her blog. This is the link to her post with the below photo.
2. Some of my favorite pieces of art I own are those that were created for me by friends, including people I’ve met virtually. OR pieces that were purchased for me by others because the art made them think of me. This is such a special feeling. A lot of my art is centered around cats and nature.
Big surprise.
3. My job sometimes brings in brand reps to share information on products, and with these presentations often comes free swag. We haven’t had many reps come lately, but we did have a box of sample mix-matched Smartwool socks put out for us to dig through. I found two pairs of similar socks, the only difference was the pattern.
I am a sucker for anything free, even if I don’t match. Smartwool has been my go to sock brand for many years, and this was like Christmas morning for me.
4. A couple months ago I shared how I was able to change my own cabin air filter in my car to save me $80. This months car project was to replace my rear brake lights. Duncan showed me how the lights pull out into the trunk, and I bought a new set online for $6. I don’t even want to know what Toyota would have charged me for that job.
5. Nostalgia hit hard when I went to a friends house a couple weeks ago for a Nintendo 64 game night. I would consider myself a minimalist, and I am constantly purging things I do not use or need, but I will never give away my N64. I used to have sleepovers with my friends and we would stay up all hours of the night playing Mario Party, and that’s exactly what I played with my grown up friends.
I only had two controllers, and I was able to find two more online for $32…for both! They aren’t OG Nintendo controllers, but they worked great! I look forward to more N64 game nights as a sorta grown up.
6. I ordered a pressure washer for my mom this month, and Duncan and I tag teamed washing her backyard concrete patio. At first I was disappointed, I had no idea pressure washing was as time consuming as it was. I thought I could spray it like a hose and voilà! That was not the case, but it was worth the time it took to clean.
7. It’s no secret I will stop wherever I am to pick up loose change I find on the ground. I will stop a run, get off my bike, go to a self checkout station that I did not use – if there is a coin, I will grab it. Overtime this habit will pay off, and I can take a handful of rolls to the bank. My recent bank haul brought me $26. Some of that was from returned change after using cash, but a bulk of it was free found money!
8. I recently bought Little a party hat for the birthday celebration we will be having in two weeks. When browsing the selection at MudBay, the cashier told me for his birthday I could have a free salmon treat. I have been buying food at MudBay ever since I stopped feeding him prescription food a few years ago, and this company has been nothing short of wonderful.
Superb customer service for stressed out pet parents trying to find a good food option.
9. I ran a 12k St. Patrick’s Day themed run two weekends ago, and I took this opportunity to buy myself another themed cat shirt. I managed to find the exact same theme as the shirt I bought for my Valentine run, but when I saw there was rain in the forecast I regretted buying a cotton t-shirt for a 7.4 mile run. I ended up wearing a base layer under the shirt and it worked great.
What did not work great was the weather. It was raining, which isn’t a huge deal, but it was also cold and the wind was OUT OF CONTROL. Nearly two miles of this run was across a bridge, and something about a bridge with wind is like a magnet. The majority of this run was brutal, I was on the struggle bus, and when my watch hit 7.45 miles and I saw I wasn’t done yet I wanted to riot.
The course ended up being 7.86 miles on my watch (and on a handful of other peoples watches who sync’d with my Strava account), which isn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of running, but I was ready to be done at mile 3 so this extra mileage sucked big fat doo doo. I finished with a 10:14 pace, and I had to fight for it.
10. On the topic of running, I am in week 9/12 of half marathon training and I am so over it. Don’t get me wrong, when I cross that finish line in April I will be proud of myself, but the last month of training has been a slog. I have had more fatigue than I would like after my runs, and I am starting to dread the mid week runs.
After the 12k I ran I can’t seem to get my body moving further than 1-2 miles which is obviously concerning.
I am cutting back on my weekday run distances and will try slowing things down on all my runs. Hopefully this will help, but I am ready to get back to running here and there when it feels right. I am discovering that I prefer the 10k distance for my longest run’s and I don’t think I need to do much more than that. I struggle with fueling once I up my milage, and I can’t eat bagels and peanut butter like all the other runners. I end up eating things that don’t sit well just for the calories, which then adds to the fatigue. Alas, it’s never ending trial and error.
Q: What’s your confession?
Blissfulbritt 