A Workout/Running Update

Hey everyone- I wanted to mention my progress with exercising and running! Last time when I wrote about this, I mentioned that I was having trouble getting started and getting on a regular workout plan. I finally have found a plan and system that works. I based it on Hal Higdon's Novice 10K program, which seems to work well for me.

Monday: Stretch and Strengthen- I work on something like yoga or dance, that helps with my flexibility. I also try to lift weights or do some sort of strengthening exercise.

Tuesday: Run

Wednesday: Cross Training- Usually I pop in an aerobic DVD...

Thursday: Run

Friday: off

Saturday: Cross Training

Sunday: Longer Run

This plan has been working well over the last week for me, I like having Friday's off because that is my longest work day and it's nice to not have to worry about working out.

I've also been writing down all my exercise and eating habits in a journal-which is extremely helpful because sometimes it stops me from eating those extra oreo cookies =)


Lately some of my workouts have been looking like this....

My runs weren't great at first. I was running in short spurts, getting exhausted and then walking for periods of time. I wasn't getting far at all. It was frustrating and I was so angry.

I took that aggression out by doing some lifting exercises and doing different things around our home gym.

My Sunday run was much better, I ended up running 2 miles of this 2.5, it took me a long time and I didn't run FAST, but I ran most of it...

I have a little under a month to get up to 6.2 miles...I'm going to keep working until I get to my goal! =)

What are your exercise goals lately? Anyone got any good ones?

Weekend Recap

Happy Monday everyone! I thought I would start this week off with a little recap of my weekend. It was definitely a great one- full of fun with friends, spring cleaning, and relaxation galore!

On Saturday night I headed off to see Jurassic Park in 3D with my friend Brittni. We actually had a bit of a secret mission during the movie. A friend of hers had a date from a dating website and we went to the same movie as them so we could keep an eye on things- keep your friends safe! Jurassic Park was completely terrifying by the way. I had seen it as a child- but it's been YEARS since I've thought about it. Seeing it in 3D made it even more terrifying then normal. I forgot key parts of the movie so it was little nerve-racking! I would definitely recommend to checking it out however.

Since we saw the movie at the IMAX theatre at Providence Place Mall, I had to do a little shopping....

I had to check out a few things at lush. There was one item I desperately wanted to try, Superbalm. I have an extremely dry scalp and hope this will help me...I also purchased H'suan wen hua, which I've been wanting to try and I also picked up an old favorite, Comforter bubble bar. Totally worth it =)

I spent Sunday helping my mom clean the kitchen, going to Walmart and CVS, and hanging around. It is so nice to just relax and not worry about getting things done!

Now for a little laugh- Roxy wrapped herself around the bed we placed in the car for her. What a goober...

Have a great day everybody!

Weekly Couponing Wrapup!

This week I had a great time couponing!

I visited CVS more than once, and found a ton of great deals! =)

Not pictured, but at CVS last Friday afternoon I bought..

2 packages of Charmin toilet paper at $9.99 each. I did so to finish up the Charmin deal- buy $30 worth and get $10 back.

I also bought a Dove beauty bar for $2.27 thinking it would help me finish up my Dove deal (buy $15 get back $5) but it didn't count towards it! So that was a $2.27 mistake =( But now I know what items ARE included in the deal and can learn from that mistake.

I used (2) 20 cents off Charmin coupons making them each $9.79
I also used $18 in ECB's

My out of pocket total was $4.72- not bad!

I went to CVS again on Sunday after Easter festivities....

I bought 2 Essie nail polishes for $8.49 each
1 Clear Conditioner at $4.99
1 Almay liner at $5.99
1 Almay Shadow at $7.99

I used a coupon for $4.99 off the clear conditioner making it FREE!
I used (2) $1 off Essie nail polishes making them $7.49 each
I used a printable $5 off 2 Almay products
I also used a $4 off $12 cosmetics CVS coupon
Finally, I used $20 ECB's

I spent $1.78 out of pocket and got back $3 for my next purchase!

On Sunday I also stopped at Stop and Shop

I picked up Lysol Dual Action wipes so I can send in my receipt to get a rebate! This will be completely FREE!

On Wednesday I went back to CVS AGAIN because of the 20% off deal of the day coupon I managed to print at the correct time!

I picked up...
Dove 2pack at $4.49 (again... a huge mistake...thinking I would get the $5 ECB back, but that didn't work out I'm so done with Dove!)
2 Essie nail polishes at $8.49 each
1 Crest pro health mouthwash at $3.49

I used a printable CVS coupon for $2 off essie, and (2) $1 off essie nail polish making them $12.98 total or $6.49 each.

I used a $1.50 off coupon for the Crest mouth wash making it $1.99 (I also got $1 ECB back, meaning I really only paid 99 cents for this item)

I also used a coupon for $4 off $12 of beauty products. I considered this as going towards the Essie, making them $8.98 total, or $4.49 each!

Lastly, I had a 20% off coupon that took $4.30 off my total cost.

I used $11 in ECB's to pay for this transaction, and my total spent out of pocket was $1.05, 16 cents in cost, 89 cents in tax. CRAZY!!!!

Overall it was a sweet week!


Happy Couponing!

Spring Cleaning Series: Donating Items

One of my favorite parts of spring cleaning is donating items. 

I previously shared how I donated a ton of old towels to our local animal hospital. It honestly filled me with joy knowing that donating something I don't use anymore can make such a big difference to someone else.

I have been collecting items to donate for quite a while now. A lot of times I find items for free while couponing that I have no use for but if I'm getting them for free (or making money off of them) it is worth it for me to get them and donate them to someone who needs them. I also receive a ton of free samples- some that I cannot use and donate those. 

I recently changed deodorants and I think I briefly touched upon it in a previous blog. My mom did some research and discovered that any deodorant that has aluminum in it can potentially cause breast cancer. Since we have a history of breast cancer in our family (my beloved grandma passed away due to it my senior year of high school), my mom was adamant about having me switch to a non-aluminum deodorant. I have been testing out several, but since deodorant often is free while couponing, I had a ton stockpiled and decided to donate it all.

I took everything from the above two pictures and placed inside a plastic shopping bag. When shopping at my local grocery store I dropped the bag in their food pantry bin so hopefully they were able to use everything I dropped off!

 I found some items in my closet to donate as well....

First I tried to sell all the clothing on ebay and did manage to sell a few items- but the ones that did not sell were all gathered together...

I took everything out and sorted it all. I ended up with one BIG pile of donations...

and one little pile of items to try to sell again...

I listed all my items to donate, bagged them up and then took them into the basement with the other items we have for donation.

What have you gathered to donate during spring cleaning?

Spring Cleaning Series- Completing my Monthly Cleaning Chores

As part of my spring cleaning series this week, I'm here to share the list of chores I generally complete to make everything a little cleaner for spring! I have shared before my cleaning checklist and generally I complete these task several times a year, if not every week. 

Since I was on a spring cleaning rampage on Saurday I completed a bunch of these tasks in one day, rather than dragging them out over several.

First things first, when I woke up in the morning, I stripped my bed and separated all the sheets, blankets and comforter into piles and started the washer before heading to work.

I also made sure that all my towels were cleaned and any leftover laundry that needed to be done was thrown in as well.

While I was waiting for all that to finish, I cleaned the bathroom from top to bottom. Toilet, shower, sink, mirrors, floor, etc....

I vacuumed the upstairs and took out the trash and recycling. I scrubbed the inside of my trash can with a cleaning wipe.

It was an extremely productive day.

I've compiled a Spring Cleaning List if you are interested in completing your own spring cleaning- it is that time of year after all! =)

Ultimate Spring Cleaning Checklist

• Clean linens and blankets
• Remake bed
• Launder all towels
• Clean bathroom sink area
• Wash bathroom mirrors
• Clean shower from top to bottom
• Clean toilet
• Swiffer bathroom floor
• Launder bedroom rugs
• Vacuum entire space
• Wash inside of trash can with wipes or soap and hot water
• Sort out and donate/sell clothing
• Dust all furniture 
• Dust ceiling fan
• Wipe walls and ceilings down
• Clean food stains in refridgerator and throw out expired foods
• Remove expired food in pantry
• Clean out expired medicine and first aid supplies
• Backup computer files
• Use electronic wipes to clean tv, computer, etc
• Dust lighting fixtures
• Rotate mattress
• Sanitize door knobs and light switch plates

Those are just a few things that I will be completing in addition to what I have already completed. I also hope to sort through other items and get some donations out of my house!

Happy Spring cleaning everyone!

Spring Cleaning Series: Sorting Through the Dresser Drawers

The other night I was having the worst time sleeping. I ended up laying in bed for about an hour before I knew that I needed to get up and do some sort of project...so I cleaned out my dresser drawers!

I started at my top drawer- the underwear drawer which I will NOT be showing on the internet =)

I ended up tossing a bunch of old underwear- anything that looked old and I wasn't wearing anymore, or anything that I found uncomfortable got tossed in the trash.

I didn't need to sort through my sock drawer because I regularly toss socks with holes in them. My sock drawer is generally a high traffic area and I replace socks quite often due to the wear I put on them. 

The next drawer I sorted through is my sweatpants drawer. I'm sad to say but quite a few of the pants in this drawer are old and needed to get tossed. Some others are ones that I never wear and wanted to donate and the drawer was just a complete mess....

After I was done, the drawer looked much better! I was wearing a pair of sweatpants and had a couple in the laundry- so I do have more than what is pictured below- but I definitely have a more reasonable amount of sweatpants now.

I threw out a pair of ratty sweats that I didn't put in the picture below because they were really gross and old. They were my first pair of URI sweatpants from when I first began school at URI. I also placed the pair of brown gauchos in my donation bin.

Next, I dug into my shorts drawer. I purchased a bunch of these shorts last summer so I knew the majority of them would still fit me and I still liked. I wear shorts every day in the summer so I didn't think there would be too much to get rid of but I definitely needed to clean it up a little bit.

So much better!

I ended up finding three pairs of lounge shorts and a nightgown to donate. 

Finally, I moved onto my jeans and work pants drawer

I knew there was a few items in here I needed to try on so I quickly moved through it...and there is a little more room now...

I ended up finding two pairs of jeans to donate. Both are very worn so I won't be able to sell them on ebay, so off to the Salvation Army they go!

I'll be back tomorrow with some more of my spring cleaning series!

Weekend Recap

Happy Monday everyone!

I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend with family and friends, I certainly did!

On Saturday, I spent a ton of time spring cleaning which I will be sharing with you guys this week. Then I went out for something yummy...

I had a gift certificate for $10 at our local ice cream stand, Lickety Splits so I met up with my best friend Rachel, her boyfriend Ant, and her sister Sara and headed off to get some ice cream! I told them I would donate my entire gift certificate to our ice cream cause as long as they would cover the rest, and it worked out great!

The ice cream you see above is chocolate chip cookie dough with hot fudge, whipped cream, and rainbow sprinkles- it was pretty amazing!

It was so nice to visit with Rachel and her family- they are truly the nicest people and it was so great to spend time with them. 

Yesterday I had an amazing time with my family, we went to brunch at a restaurant in Stonington called Noah's Restaurant. 

My meal was awesome...

I had the roasted turkey breast sandwich with a side of home fries. I wish they hadn't been so stingy with the home fries- they even had chives on them! Yum, I love chives.

After we finished eating we took a walk through Stonington Borough, where Dan decided to jump the wall and scare us all half to death.

I also took an awful cute picture of Dan and his girlfriend...

It was a great weekend spending time with friends and family! =)

How was your weekend?!