the abcs of us.

the super fun list going around the blog world:)

richard

age:  29

bedsize:  queen

chore you hate:  dishes

dogs:  one day…for now butch will do

essential start of your day:  workout at the gym

favorite color:  green

gold or silver:  silver

height:  6’1”

instruments you play:  none, i always wanted to learn either piano or sax

job title:  sorter

kids: 0

live:  vegas baby!

mom's name:  lorraine

nicknames:  -

overnight hospital stays:  2

pet peeve:  the closet light being left on

quote from a movie: “first rule about fight club, you don’t talk about fight club.”–fight club

 right or left handed:  left

siblings:  2 sisters

time you wake up:  during the week – 730a on the dot

underwear:  boxer briefs

vegetable(s) you hate:  squash, cauliflower, spinach

what makes you late:  traffic

x-rays you have had done:  teeth

yummy food you make:  steaks

zoo animal:  lion-o

katy beth

age:   25

bedsize:  queen

chore you hate:  emptying the dishwasher/putting away laundry

dogs: one day…

essential start of your day:  coffee! 

favorite color:  red, blue, pink

gold or silver:  silver

height:  5’7”

instruments you play: not musically talented at all

job title:  assistant director of admissions

kids:  one day…

live:  vegas baby!

mom's name:  nancy

nicknames:  ladybug, boomer, kb

overnight hospital stays:  none, knock on wood

pet peeve:  being talked at instead of talked too

quote from a movie:  "there you see her/sitting there across the way/ she don’t got a lot to say/ but theres something about her/ and you don’t know why/ but you’re dying to try/ you wanna kiss the girl"-the little mermaid

right or left handed:  right

siblings:  1 “little” brother

time you wake up:  too stinkin early

underwear:  always wear cute ones, no matter who is looking:)

vegetable(s) you hate:  peas, spinach, brussel sprouts

what makes you late: tv, phones, traffic, choosing clothes me

x-rays you have had done:  teeth, ankle, knees

yummy food you make:  pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

zoo animal:  hippos

now its your turn to fill it out:)

the living with a runner thing.

i started running about 2 years ago and instantly fell in love.  growing as an athlete running was always my least favorite part, ok i down right hated it.  something completely turned around though when i started training 1/2 marathons.  it was the perfect outlet for anything i needed.  i run by myself usually with my music, but sometimes with nothing at all.  i dont run for times, or to place in a race, or to beat the fastest person.  i run for me.  more about all of that in another post. 

when i first met richard i was already about 1 month into training for my 1st race.  he has been there since the beginning and never saw another side.  he was there for my very 1st 10k and almost every race since.  but coming to be that fantastic support and being there everyday is a totally different thing.  when we first moved in i wasnt training, i had just come off my 3rd 1/2 marathon and was ready for a rest.  i was on a mission to lose the weight i had gained on an awful protein shake i had taken on my last training cycle, which at that point didnt even include the gym. 

richard has always been super healthy and a gym rat the whole time i have known him.  i may not agree with the weight gainer shake he takes or going to the gym at 8am when he doesnt go to bed until 2 am.  but he is super dedicated to his goals and its amazing to live with someone so committed to the gym and health.  he definitely helps motivate me to get up in the morning to do my own training.

now when i say get up in the morning, i dont quite mean at 8am to go with him.  i mean more like 6am to go run 4 miles outside in january. 

even in las vegas we get pretty damn cold in the winter.  this was the morning i was still cold after the shower, coffee and about 2 hours into my work day.  and its a 5-day a week habit.  there are training plans and runs that have to get worked into the week.  no matter how i feel when that alarm goes off i have to get up and go.   if i skip a day it has to be for a fantastic reason.  i went light on training for my 2nd 1/2 marathon thinking i have done this before, if i skip a day or 2 during a training cycle i still can hack it.  i paid for it big time during the race and vowed i would stick to the training plan for every other race i trained for. 

up until moving in with richard i only had to be semi-considerate of others for early morning workouts.  when living at home i had my own room to turn lights on as i needed, open/close as many drawers as necessary to find all my clothes, and set as many alarms as i wanted to.  once leaving my room i tried to be as quite and close the doors when i had lights on in the bathroom or kitchens.  our apartment is quite a bit smaller and i didnt realize how much noise i was really making while trying to get ready.  i do still set 2 alarms, its a pshcy thing that i think i am hitting the snooze button.  except now i quietly get out of bed and head into the bathroom once awake to this...

it has definitely kept me a lot more organized and cut down on the time it takes me to get ready.  who knew something as simple as getting my clothes together would be way more considerate to him still sleeping and so much easier on my life. 

the other big thing we had to get used to is the food part.  i have always been a curvy girl and have definitely let it get out of hand a few times in my life.  when we met i was on the losing weight track without even trying because of all the training, it was fantastic!  once that 1st race was done though i realized my body could quickly go back to the out of control curves if i wasnt careful.  i love food, and have come to understand that i can continue eating what i wanted as long as i was mindful of my portions.  richard and i have fairly similar tastes in food, both pretty plain and nothing too exotic.  when we 1st met his dad actually told me that he was hoping i could expand richards eating horizons!  (still one of the funniest conversations to this day.)  with richard trying to gain weight and me training/always wanting to lose weight as any other girl i have definitely learned that i need to watch what goes on my plate.  richard can eat whatever he wants whenever.  getting off work at 11pm he can stop at mcdonalds and get 2 mcdoubles, french fries, and a large coke and be fine.  i need to eat at a decent time and have become very diligent at counting calories.  even though i am in pretty much constant training i still cant eat just anything.  another example of our different dinners...

now our different work schedules for sure allow us to eat whatever we want when we get home.  the weekends get a little tricky sometimes when trying to choose a restaurant to eat at.  and when i get close to a race my food choices get stricter and stricter.  but we have been able to deal with our different tastes really well.  we are both even introducing the other to new food. 

merging your life with someone else is really hard at first.  you are trying to figure out how to share a closet and what to do when the other person is taking the longest shower ever and you need to finish getting ready (i would definitely be the one in the shower).  merging your athletic lives though is sometimes just as hard.  once you figure it out however it can really make both your lives so much easier. 

the day of l-o-v-e.

we all know that valentines day is definitely a holiday aimed at women, and as a woman i am proud to say that i fully support the holiday.  i have always been behind holidays no matter how big/small/silly/serious they are.  i wear red/white/blue at any holiday.  i will wear stick on tattoos on my face to represent a team or event.  valentines day is no different for me, single or in a relationship.

this was my first valentines day in the same relationship as the year before and i was super excited.  richard had been excited about my present for what seemed like months and i had no idea what it could be, which is exactly the way i wanted it.  i was really struggling on what to get richard though.  with the holiday being pretty girly its hard to decide what to get your guy that is romantic without being over the top mushy.  i am a hopeless romantic, there is no doubt about that.  i watch mushy movies and think how amazing it would be to be swept away from the palace by a prince and what it would be like to come home to a path of rose petals with candles everywhere just because its a friday night.  like i said, a hopeless romantic.

we had decided to celebrate on sunday because we were both off and there were a lot of things going on saturday.  after lots of thought i figured out my present for richard and was really excited about it.  but when my brother asked what i had got him and i let him in on the secret he didnt seemed that impressed.  once he thought about it though, he realized it actually was a good gift for a guy.  earlier in the week we had both talked about cooking dinner for each other and that we both actually wanted to be the one make the meal.  i had decided that i was going to save up my idea for his birthday and he could have that day to cook.  after waking up late in the morning i got up to wrap his presents in the least girly valentines wrapping paper i could find.  i proudly brought the presents out and suggested that we go run our errands so we could come home and celebrate the day.  the look on his face though meant there was no way we were leaving without gift opening, he was dying to know what were in those boxes.

i decided he could open one before we left, this way i could stretch things out through the day.  it was then i realized how much the presents went together.  i had purchased a black tuxedo vest he had been eyeing since christmas from h&m.  well with any vest you need a new dress shirt to go with it.  i let him open the shirt first and could see the let down on his face.  there was no way i could not have him open the vest at the same time.  instant grin!  there was also a candy box pack of wonka candy he had seen a few months before at a candy store i went back to pick up.  for as much as i struggled with the ideas, he was super excited about the new things to add to his wardrobe.  and of course the candy was a huge hit!

i couldnt wait for my present.  there was no card in the bag, and i thought maybe he was saving it for the actual day on monday.  i also knew there were no flowers in my future.  he had told me the week before that i was not getting flowers.  i was a little bummed that there were no flowers, i was even more bummed that he had told me the week before, a girl has to have something to hope for.  first i opened a precious moments box with a horseman and a sign that said "hail to the princess".  it was beautiful and had a chain like it attached to something else.  then he opened the ottoman (sneaky) and pulled out another bag.  inside this box was a beautiful cinderella precious moment on a carriage complete with a glass slipper and a pumpkin.  there was another chain on this piece, but they did not go together...definitely left the door open for future pieces.

we got ready soon after and decided what to do for dinner.  since i left him up to the task of dinner we were in debate.  i was gladly going to take the dinner task because i was hoping there were going to be pink chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast.  but once he was insistent on dinner i knew there wouldnt be.  the year before was one of the first times we actually made dinner together and had made crab legs and steaks.  richard had decided he wanted to do something similar.  well the the night before we had red lobster with my brother so valentine dinner was back up for debate.  we were both hoping for lucilles bbq on saturday night so we decided thats what we needed to have on sunday instead.  we could run our errands and then pick it up on the way home and hang out on our couch together eating.

it was such a simple romantic day.  just the two of us at home doing our own thing together.  we did just that with our bbq and pjs on the couch watching things we had dvrd.  there is so much pressure to spend lots of money on each other and declare you love in these huge gestures.  now the hopeless romantic in me loves a gesture, but sometimes just spending the day together is perfect.