The Last Four Daily Non-Negotiables

In an effort to avoid creating one way too long blog entry, I have broken this list in to two. Here are my last four things I do every day or close to it to keep me happy.

5. Set Myself Up for Success Tomorrow

To be fair, this is partially because I am lazy, and love to sleep as long as possible in the morning. It is also because if I don’t prep for tomorrow today I know that I will be making some questionable food and exercise choices. Every weeknight I make my breakfast and coffee, pack my lunch, un pack and re pack my gym bag, and pick out my clothes for tomorrow. This way there is minimal thinking and time required in the morning and I know I have everything I need to have a healthy day. One weekend nights I will often prep everything for coffee the night before to make things quick and easy in the morning.

6. Read

Whether it is blog posts or books I feel more centered when I take some time to read for pleasure each day. Sometimes in the morning, at my desk, with my coffee, I click through some of my favorite blogs. Other days I read a chapter or two at night before bed. Reading is a simple, quiet, hobby I love. Michael and I also read to each other. We are currently reading Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone, with hopes of reading the whole series, but it is slow going since our time together is limited.

7. Enjoy the Pets

We have two cats and a dog who are incredibly snuggly and sweet. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I get to live with these loving, cuddly, adoring animals and I should take more advantage of that. Calling the cats out of their hiding places and scratching their bellies makes their day and mine. Playing fetch and walking Stella are treats, not chores. Loving on them makes me happy and I always think about how therapy dogs and cats must help lift the spirits of the sick or elderly so much. I am young and healthy and it can totally change my mood.

8. Spend Time With Michael

On days when he is working a long shift and I am on the soccer field late it is easy to miss each other’s calls or have short conversations that aren’t very whole hearted or meaningful. I try to send him a sweet text, remember to have a longer conversation even when I am ready to get off of the phone, or leave him a voicemail. He is my gravity, he keeps me sane and centered, and even though spending time together is tricky when we are apart it is still so important to our hearts, minds, and marriage.

                                                         

Four of My Daily Non-Negoatiables

In an effort to clean up my act and get back in a routine of healthy eating and exercise I have been putting some thoughts into what things I do every day that helps keep The Lauren Brain ticking. I came up with six daily non-negotiables, things I do every day without thinking, I rarely skip them and regret it when I do. In no particular order…

1.  Be positive and spend time with positive people

This time last year I had really embraced my inner Bright Side Bitch and was putting a lot of effort in to reframing negative thoughts with positive ones. I still do this, but a reminder to keep positivity on the front burner never hurts. Additionally, I try to give a wide berth to negative or dramatic people and situations. I have a co-worker who gets so bent out of shape when schedules do not go as planned, details slip through the cracks, and things are not as organized as they could be. Don’t get me wrong, I think those things are irritating, but we work in a small, poorly managed, division of local government, and we work with a lot of strong personalities. I try to keep my head down and let all of the irritation roll off of my back. It is small potatoes. I come to work, get the things I can control done, get my lunchtime run on, get out the door at 5:00pm. Getting wrapped up in negative thinking and chatter is not something I devote any thought or energy to.

2.  Saying “No” to Stress

I also try to focus on the things I can control. Anger and negativity are no fun to be in or around. A couple of weeks ago my hard drive at work crashed and I lost everything I’d done professionally for the last 3 years. Frustrating-yes. Out of my control-yes. (Well, sort of, I’m not so bright for not backing anything up, but that ship has sailed). Small potatoes-also yes.

3.Morning Coffee

Morning coffee is the warm (or cold, depending on the season) treat that I look forward to each day. I love the ritual of making and drinking coffee on the weekends, I love choosing my favorite real or travel mug to use for the day. And I love what I think is pretty much a placebo affect from sipping it. (I know coffee is caffeine and caffeine gives you that get up and go feeling, but when I miss a day I don’t get a headache, so it is safe to say I don’t neeeeed coffee as much as I like it).

4.Move-it Move-it

Whether it is taking Stella to the park or on a walk, Running Club, lifting or a hike I feel so much better when I intentionally move during the day. Insanely better, happier, less staby, more grateful the list goes on. Movement makes me a better Lauren. Running specifically makes me a much better Lauren, Bishop Park Running Club is helping me get back on that horse.

Bishop Park Running Club

After hemming and hawing for a long time about whether or not it was too weird/gross/inappropriate to use the shower in the girls bathroom in the gymnastics gym downstairs Ben and I decided to go for it. We cleaned up the least scary looking shower stall downstairs, I brought in shampoo, deodorant, and a hair dryer took over a locker and the rest is history! We started the Bishop Park Running Club! It is not much of a club, it is open to anyone who wants to run with us (which so far is no one). We leave from the park at noon every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We don’t even run together, we just start together, he is smoking fast and I am just trying to go 3 miles and walk as little as possible. We have been going strong for 3 weeks and I have only missed one run!

I love it! It gets me out the door and gets my run out of the way. It is also a great time of day to go, warm enough by noon, and an awesome way to break up the day. Showering in the locker room downstairs is not really as weird or gross as I originally thought-though my threshold for weird and gross are admittedly pretty high.

I hope to continue running club through the winter and spring, until summer camp wreaks havoc on our schedules…

Long Live Bishop Park Running Club!

I now present to you My Running Blog

I often flip flop around about what kind of blog I want this to be. I feel like a faker writing about running because I am not a hardcore runner, but I have been running more and I have thoughts about it and this is my blog, so I'm the boss and I say I write about running.
Last week I wrote about running after work, and I did it. It was the first run i'd been on in 11 days and it went okay. I had to take 2 walking breaks. The first was because the girl I was meeting for dinner called to cancel and I needed to talk to her. The second time was because I was going up a hill and was out of shape. But all in all it was okay. I was proud of myself for going after work, and in the heat. The only major bummer was that my running app did not save the run. This is not really a big deal but I like to be able to look back on my weekly mileage total/pace.
Thursday I lifted weights and called it a day. Friday I had another run to get in. I knew we had plans that evening so I wanted to get my run in before work (ha).  I turned my alarm off for my morning run like I ALWAYS do. Never once have I got up for my morning run. never. Friday was no different. So, I had to go after work and at 3:00pm on Friday it was 90* and felt like 97* so I ended up on the treadmill. I actually had a surprisingly good run. I was able to zone out and just crank out 3 miles. The last .5 I even turned the pace up fairly high and really pushed myself because I was feeling strong and had a lot left in the tank.
Friday night we had Jody and Zoe over for dinner. We had burgers (I had black bean), sweet potato rounds, corn on the cob, and frozen balsamic veggies from Trader Joe's (which were awesome and I bought them again this week). We chatted and listened to country music while I cooked. The night was to celebrate Michael passing all of his nursing school tests and classes so I manned dinner and just wanted him to relax.
Our grill has been on its last legs for a while now, it was a hand me down and has treated us well but it is old and has been well used. One of the burners shoots fire straight out the back of the grill, and last night another one could not be turned to high or low-just one flame level, and the grates are crumbling etc etc we really should just let it rest in peace, but we are stubborn. When I took the burgers off of the grill they were rare so we put them back on. After several more minutes 2 of them were still rare and the other 3 look better. Jody took one for the team and ate the 2 rare burgers. ew.
Later we went out to the cul-de-sac and set off some small fireworks that were leftover from the rainy 4th of July. Yay! Roman Candles! Our neighbors love us...
Then it was early to bed to get up for my "long" run Saturday morning.

Counting Down

I don't like to make a big deal about my birthday (although my husband did make it really fun and special this year).
Thanksgiving makes me feel guilty (choosing between families, someone is inevitably left out).
I'm kind of a Scrooge about Christmas (but getting better after marrying an elf).
New Years Eve always seems like a lot of work for a hangover.
I think that all of this ill-will towards holidays stems from being a child of divorce. I'm not here to win sympathy or to point fingers or blame my parents. I know that they did the best that they could and I love them both dearly but when holidays are spent in rotating shifts the magic gets lost and for me the guilt and stress took over.
However,there is one day of the year that I love. Truly, madly, deeply. The Third of July. I mean, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't already really super pumped up about it. In fact, last night I made Michael model a patriotic headband I bought at the dollar spot at Target (6 weeks ago, yes, I am a nut for anything red, white and blue).



Two years ago Michael were on a road trip on the 2nd and 3rd of July, when boredom took over I offered to entertain him by singing all of the patriotic songs I knew; America The Beautiful, God Bless America, This Land Is Your Land, and on, and on. I have to admit, my talent was pretty amazing. I remember impressing even myself with how many songs I was able to come up with in their entirety and how long I was able to entertain us. We then decided to stop at Rarity Mountain at a scenic overlook in Tennessee to take some pictures and because it was the Third of July I was wearing my most favorite patriotic shorts in all their glory. You're Welcome, Tennessee.

Last year, being an Olympic year and all, I could hardly contain my American Pride. I went shopping and bought allll of the red, white and blue things. And then I challenged myself to see if I could go from the Third of July until the Olympic opening ceremonies, July 27, wearing red white and blue in some form every day. Let's just say it wasn't very challenging.

For my birthday in February I begged (and begged and begged) Michael to buy me this Uncle Sam outfit.

After tricking me into thinking he wouldn't buy it for me all week by saying ridiculous things like "you know Uncle Sam is a guy" and "when would you ever wear that?!" He gave it to me. Best. Birthday. Ever.

So yeah, I will be wearing that to fireworks on the Third. My family is so lucky they get to sit with and Uncle Sam impersonator.

First days of Summer

Over the weekend we took a trip to one of our favorite weekend getaway spots-camping at Lake Allatoona! You may remember that I got poison ivy there last year....
This weekend, we had friends tag along with us! Jody, Zoe, Allison and John made the trip to the boat. We had a blast on Saturday-swimming, tubing, playing with the dogs, floating and hitting the whiffle ball. It was also the summer solstice and a super moon! Summer is my jam, and you better believe I was pumped!! Everything was so wonderfully summer. Although packing up all of the food and gear and taking care of the boat after a weekend on it is a all a lot of work it makes me so happy. There is nothing better than sleeping under the stars on a summer night, hearing the bullfrogs and crickets, and waking up to a freckled nose from time in the sun. I enjoyed a glorious two and a half hour nap on Sunday and needed a LOT of coffee this morning to face the reality of Monday.
Another bonus to the weekend is that Allison and John introduced me to my new favorite band. Band? DJ might be a better word...damn I'm old... Anywho, its called The White Panda. It's all mashups and very similar to GirlTalk whom I LOVE. Mashups are the best running music-great beats and it switches so often you dont get bored.
I hammered out an awesome 3 mile run today after work to the sweet melodies of White Panda. Then I came home and whipped up a batch of chicken (and chicken less) enchiladas.
Even though I woke up dragging and mourning the loss of the weekend I still managed to show Monday what was up.
Bring it, Tuesday.

Owning it

We all have our quirks, and I've been noticing some of mine with more regularity and distinction lately.

I am obsessed with the pets. This is nothing new. I have been head over heels in love with Bode since the day I could't take him home. (A story for another post.) He is my in my soul, my calm place and my comfort. Stella is our Pretty Girl. She wasn't with us one day last week and it made the whole household feel off. She makes me smile and I love coming home to see her prancing around showing off her favorite frisbee in her mouth. Prim is our comic relief. She can barely jump up onto the bed, is missing half of her teeth, and falls asleep sitting up. She licks my tears away and lets me hold her like a baby. The pets make our house a home. Last night Michael agreed to let the cats sleep in our room (a treat that is usually reserved for Friday and Saturday nights) and I got so excited I made up a dance! I want nothing more than the 5 of us to be together. Always. To infinity and beyond.

I am obsessed with straws. I have one for my Nalgene bottle, my travel coffee cup, my smoothie cup, a special pink straw with yellow polka dots that I only use at my desk at work, a back up pack of straws in my desk drawer (heaven forbid I should go without) and a pack at home. I entered a blog giveaway last week to try to win a glass straw (Oooooh special!) to add to the obsession collection.

I am obsessed with my Nalgene bottle. My husband calls it my security blanket because I drag it ev.ery.where. with me. It is a hideous shade of neon yellow/green and all of the paint has rubbed off of it. It has acquired many accoutrements: the aforementioned straw, a blue splash guard, a carabiner with accompanying strap and clip, and a light blue scrap of felt tied onto the lid. I have had this water bottle for three years. I got it at a sleep over camp I worked at in Alabama where I met Michael. I have no plans to part with it anytime soon.

I am obsessed with cups-I have already mentioned several of them. A special(hideous)floral print travel coffee cup, special smoothie cup (with straw), Nalgene bottle, and a mason jar cup from Terrapin.

I love NPR. I listen to it every time I am in the car and look forward to catching my two favorite programs on Saturday morning; Wait Wait Don't Tell Me and Ask Me Another. I wanted to make a donation during their annual campaign not to fund the shows I listen to and love, but to get a tote bag that said I <3 NPR.

I love white noise. We have an app that we both have to sleep with every night and I turn the fan/space heater on under my desk at work for temprature regulation and also the white noise.

Im sure that there are others but these are the ones that come to mind first!

Sweet Nothing

Over the past 9 months I have been slowly nurturing a new relationship in my life. I wasn't so sure about it at first, and there were times where I thought it was too hard and wasn't sure I wanted to continue. But now, I can say with certainty that is a healthy relationship that I plan to continue for a long time. A relationship with what you ask? Spin class of course! Did I have you fooled?
I go to spin 2-4 times a week. And I've found as much as I love sweating, pushing myself on the bike, and the nice muscle tone spinning gives my legs, I love my instructor even more. Jessica is the.best. any anytime I take a class from someone else I leave majorly disappointed. In Jessica's classes the workouts are tough and the music is rockin. She lets us request songs to play during our workouts which is SO FUN. (Side note: I'm clearly showing my age here if I think requesting songs in a workout class is a blast.) Requests are awesome because people in the class have such a wide taste in music there is a lot of variety. Also, when MY song comes on I get really pumped up.
So, a couple of weeks ago I requested my new favorite song. I think it might have become one of Jessica's favorite songs too because it finds its way onto her playlists a lot. Jessica almost always ends her class in the same pattern, meaning the last three songs of the class usually go like this: a CLIMB, then a SPRINT and then finally the COOLDOWN. She likes to put my special request new favorite song (hang on, I'll tell you what it is in a minute) as the last sprint, and subsequently the last song, of the class.
Let me just say that the combination of getting to hear my song, wanting to sprint hard, and pushing myself for onemoresongohmygod kills me. It. Kills.Me.
And she did it again this morning. At 5:30am. And I almost puked. So, without further ado, I present THE song
Sweet Nothing By Calvin Harris, featuring Florence Welch from Florence and the Machine



Heaven help you if this ever comes on in your spin class. You have been warned.

Do you have a favorite part on the day? Something you look forward to
while sitting at work? I have a couple
1. Watching Jeopardy at 7:30. Jeopardy at 7:30 has been part of my day
for a long time- it is part of my dad’s daily ritual and I have
adopted it also. This is something I take very seriously. Michael
knows –NOT TO TALK DUING JEOPARDY! I like to think that he is
impressed by my knowledge and skills.
2. I also look forward to coming home and walking the dog every
afternoon. This ritual is much less serious  One of the perks of our
neighborhood is the nice little walking path we have. It wanders
through couple of different neighborhoods and takes a lap around a
cute little pond. It is a nice, quiet, 15 minute walk and a good way
for me to relax. Stella is so cute when we go and bounds around,
chasing geese and sniffing everything she can.
I was so excited this spring when a goose laid eggs in a nest in plain
view right next to the pond. It was fun to see how many eggs were in
the nest each day at the beginning. Then we got to watch 2 geese (I
assume momma and daddy) take turns sitting on the nest and keeping
watch. They were a little a lot feisty if you got too close. And now
we have 2 flocks (not sure if that is the right word) of baby geese
that hang out at our pond. One flock is still in the cute, fuzzy
yellow phase.

The other is in a much less cute, awkward teenage phase

When we walk on a hot day Stella will swim out into the pond and chase
the geese. I don’t even try to stop here, those geese will be sure to
let her know when she is too close. So much honking and hissing, jeez.
What’s your favorite part of the day? Are you pro geese in your
neighborhood pond? Or anti because of the hissing and the poop?

Nice to meet you

Welcome to Admire Your Own! My name is Lauren, I am 26 years old and live in wonderful town of Athens, Georgia. I like to think that I am living the dream. I have everything I dreamed of having when I was in school- and more! However, I often find myself wanting something more, or something differnt. I want to take the time to really examine the great and not so great things in my life right now and change what I can. I want to stop looking to others and longing for or *admiring* what they have. This is my journey to Admire My Own.
A little more about me:
* I am engaged to my loving, fun, and fantastically fit fiancee, Michael Butzen. He is a personal trainer and a great source of inspiration for me.
* We have a dog- Stella and a cat- Bode, I am forever begging Michael to let me expand out pet family!
* I work for county as a youth sports coordinator and I LOVE it. Teaching kids the value of sports and outdoor activites is my dream job (and, all the more reason to stay fit myself!)
* I worked at the YMCA for 5 years and taught preschool for 9 months before starting my current job.
* I have a Bachelor's in Child Development from the University of Georgia- GO Dawgs! and a Master's in Family Studies from the Univerity of Kentucky.
*Some might say I have baby fever, I say I love kids.
* I was born and raised in Atltanta and living in Kentucky, away from home for 2 years, almost killed me. I had no idea how much I loved Georgia until I tried to leave it.
* I have a sister who is 24, we are very close, and a brother who is 20.
* Thanks to Michael, I have recently fallen in love with camping and hiking- bonus if Stella can come with us.
* I like my coffe with 2 Splendas and lots of skim milk
*I think that fireworks are the most romantic thing ever
* I cannot function in the morning until I brush my teeth
* I cannot sleep with the closet door open
* Bode is my happy place
* I love the beach
* Spin class is my current favorite form of cardio
*Overnight Oats are my current favorite breakfast (more on that later)
Wanna know more? Ask!