this + that

Because I've been busy and really haven't even though about blogging, here's a little bit of this + that for you to start your week off...This is the last week we will be living in our first home.  Quite honestly, it's a little bittersweet for me.  This house was our start, it's where we came home to from our honeymoon, it's where we've celebrated 6 anniversaries together, it's where we got pregnant and brought our first child home to.  We have a lot of memories here and to a point, I will miss the location of this house.  But, it has also been a money pit for us.  It was never, ever perfect - far from it - and knowing that we wouldn't be here, we weren't willing to sink more money than we needed to into renovating it.  Plus, we were never in love with the neighborhood.  It was close to pretty much everything, but it just didn't suit where we wanted to live.  So, yes, I will definitely miss this house, but I cannot WAIT until the next step!

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I am actually ahead of "schedule" with my packing.  For those of you who know me well, you won't be surprised when I say that I have a timeline and checklist for what needs to be packed and when.  And thankfully, I am actually ahead of schedule!  Woohoo for me!  It's been nice to actually relax a little bit this weekend instead feel like all we could do was pack, pack, pack!  The biggest thing - the basement - is pretty much done except for a few last minute things we will get to at the very end.  I'm not nearly as worried about the upstairs.  For some reason, the upstairs seems much easier since we don't have nearly as much stuff upstairs.  Hopefully that means I can actually take MacKenna to the park a few days this week when the weather is nice!I did my long run outside this weekend for the first time this year.  I might be wrong in that, but it's been at least since early January if not before then since I've done a long run outside.  (Edited to add:  I lied.  I did a long run outside last month, but it still feels like it's been awhile!)  It was definitely not my easiest run.  I gave blood last Thursday and that had me knocked out pretty good as far as energy.  Add on top of that a neck/back strain I've been dealing with for a few weeks now and sore calves from doing plyometrics with my volleyball girls and it was a pretty tough run.  My goal was to make my last mile my fastest (per my training plan) and I was actually able to accomplish that.  I'm so ready for the weather to consistently be warm so I can do most of my runs outside again!

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I need some ideas of strength training I can do at home.  Because we are moving in with my parents indefinitely, I am going to be putting my gym membership on hold at the end of this week.  Thankfully, my parents have a really nice treadmill in their basement I can run on in the mornings when I have things after school and I have a weight room at school I can use too.  But, come this summer, I would have to drive a good distance to get to a gym without paying for a new membership.  I might look into the gym by them for a 3-month student membership (I am a grad student after all), but we are trying to save money as much as we can.  I have some gym equipment but would love some other options that won't cost me a ton of money and are difficult.  I need something to push me so I actually feel like I got something out of my workout.  I am open to any and all ideas!Hope you have a great start to your week!  I am hoping to blog later this week if I get a chance (or if I think of something to write about), otherwise the next time you hear/read from me, I might be in my new-temporary home!  Crazy!