If Disney Movies Had Honest Titles...

Saw this recently and it was too good not to share. Enjoy!

Funny Craigslist Experiences

My big move halfway across the country is in about 5 weeks and I'm not planning on taking any furniture. Pretty much if it doesn't fit in my car, I'm not keeping it. This means I have the joy of selling all my furniture. Craigslist is a great resource for this and so far it's worked out wonderfully. Maybe a bit too quickly though, since now I have no dresser and my clothes are in little piles everywhere. ;)

But sometimes I question the common sense of the folks buying the furniture.

The guy buying my dresser and shoe cabinet showed up in his little Prius... Come on, man. Really? A Prius?!

I will give him credit though. He got the dresser in his Prius! Had to make a second trip to get the shoe cabinet though.

Another lady came to get this bookcase. It's pretty big- 5 ft tall and heavy. When she arrived we had a moment of "uh, do you think we can lift this together?" Luckily we could. And she brought a big SUV.

And last but not least, my favorite- an older lady wanted this desk. It's a big heavy desk and the top hutch part did not detach. She said she would bring a truck and a guy to help her. Great, right? Except the guy she brought, bless his heart, was not in any physical condition to heave this desk around. The three of us got it out of my apartment, but couldn't lift it onto her truck. We had to flag down a couple of surfers (nice perk of living by the beach is that there is an endless supply of buff men walking around) to assist us.

I'm just happy to be rid of all this furniture- one less thing to worry about over the next month! :)

Do you have any funny Craigslist experiences?

Run Wine & Dine... Solo?

When registration opened for runDisney's Wine & Dine Half Marathon at Walt Disney World, let's just say I got a little trigger happy and registered my husband and myself pretty quickly. I knew we wouldn't be running the Disneyland Half, which used to be our annual race, so I figured WDW in November would be a nice substitute. 

Little did I know that we would end up deciding to do the full marathon- taking place in January, just two months later. My family is also coming along for marathon weekend and my brother is running the 10k, so that'll be fun. 

My husband isn't too keen on doing both trips and he doesn't think he'll have time to take the weekend trip for Wine & Dine. So now I'm left with a dilemma... 

-Do I just eat the registration fees? 
My husband's suggestion, but it doesn't make a difference to him since it was my side job money that paid for it.

-Do I pay $90 or possibly $140 to defer both our registrations?
It still wouldn't be a guarantee that we would be able to go in 2015.

-Do I make the trip solo and run by myself? 
Keep in mind that this would be my first trip to WDW. Newbie + solo + WDW = probably a confusing trip. I'm not too worried about running alone, but I was really looking forward to sharing the experience of the race and after party with my hubby.

What makes it even more complex is that I don't even know where we will be living in November. Heck, we could end up in Orlando! I'm going with the assumption that we will be back in CA, which means it would take a full day to fly to FL and my husband does not want to miss work.

I have until the end of September to decide- that's when the deferral price goes up and I'd much rather figure things out before then anyway. Hopefully by the end of September I will also know where we'll be living. And it'll give me time to try and convince my hubby we should take the trip. :)

What are your thoughts? Have you ever done a Disney race solo? Have you ever been to a new (to you) Disney park solo?

Training Tuesday

I think I've finally found my training groove again. And oddly enough, I found it on the treadmill! 

Weekly Recap

Tues: 2 miles

Wed: rest

Thurs: 2 miles

Fri: 4 miles

Sat: rest

Sun: 2 miles

Mon: rest

Friday I wasn't feeling up to running outside, so I decided to hit the gym and run on the treadmill just to get it done. I was only planning a couple miles, but felt good and I got in 4. But... I think this affected my long run on Sunday. I had planned to go out for 6 miles on Sunday, but my calf was starting to cramp up a lot, so I only got in 2. As I'm getting back into the habit of running and logging more miles, I really need to keep up with stretching.

As I'm preparing more and more of my first marathon in January, I've been looking at half marathons to run for a time to submit for a better proof of time. The best half time I could submit is a 2:27. I'm pretty confident I can run a faster half and I've been eyeing one that is on July 13th. I'm still on the fence on whether I want to run it. 

I've gotten a lot of my packing/purging done for my impending move to Texas, so that's a huge relief. Now it's just a matter of keeping things to a minimum and staying organized. I'm excited, but I'm definitely going to miss my perfect 75 degree California weather! 

How was your week?

Big Life Changes!

I've thought a while about how to start this post, but I suppose just getting it out is easier for all of us. :)

I quit my job and I'm moving to Texas.

It may not come as a surprise to most of you who know that my husband is in Texas for work; apparently both my boss and landlord expected it, just not this soon.

It's a huge change: I've worked at my current company for 5 years now and I've worked my way up through about 4 promotions. I'm definitely not the best of the best, but I do my job pretty well (or so I've been told), and for the most part I really enjoy it. I work at a bank handling peoples' money, so I've had my fair share of angry folks, but overall it's great. It's hard to give up a career I've worked 5 years on, but I'm grateful for the experience I've gained. Most of all, I really enjoy working with my team. A few I've grown as close to as family and I'm really sad to leave. They've been very supportive and are a big part of how I've been able to live away from my husband for so long.

But I know it's for the best. It's been over 4 months since my husband moved and I won't lie; it's been hard. Really hard. I thought as time went on, it would be easier to be apart, but to be honest, neither of us are happy with the situation. I found myself drinking more wine, sleeping a lot more, then having insomnia, and running a lot less- a slippery slope that I know can lead to depression. Financially speaking, it's not optimal as well. Double rent, double living expenses, travel costs to see each other, etc.

So while leaving a perfectly good job (and income stream) is a scary prospect, my current side jobs will keep me busy and help to offset leaving my job. I'm pretty sure my husband's exact words were "anything you make can go into your Disney fund." Hello, motivation! ;)
He's also been super supportive and keeps encouraging me to pursue my dreams and other career possibilities.

So that's my big secret and why my blogging has been very sporadic lately. It was a difficult decision to make, but I'm excited for the new adventure. I didn't immediately share the news on here because my boss and I agreed that we would wait to tell our team until we had a plan/my replacement in place. Moving won't be for a while though- I'm aiming for the end of July.

In the meantime, I get to enjoy lots of purging and packing.

Have you ever made any huge life changes?

Training Tuesday

This past week, runDisney released the new medals for the Disneyland Half Marathon weekend taking place this Labor Day weekend in Disneyland. I am so bummed I will not be running this year. I'm a Lilo & Stitch fan, but more so I love the Hawaiian theme!

This week's training has been just okay for me. I still can't seem to get into real training mode and I'm just running to get out there. I really need to get things into focus and start on my marathon training.

Weekly Recap

Tuesday: 2 miles

Wednesday: rest

Thursday: 2 miles

Friday: 2 miles

Saturday: rest

Sunday: 2 miles

Monday: rest

June squat count: 800

This past week was also my husband and I's 4th wedding anniversary. We haven't seen each other in about a month and won't see each other again for another 6 weeks. I've been pretty sad about it and I think it's had a lot of affect on my running. On the upside, he did send me these gorgeous flowers at work.

How do you motivate yourself to get into training when life gets you down?

Italy: Venice Part 2

I'm finally getting around to writing the recap for our final days in Italy from our trip in January. I really did save the best for last. Of the three cities we visited (Rome, Florence, and Venice), Venice was by far my favorite.

The canals are beautiful and so picturesque. With all the little bridges, you could really wander and enjoy the scenery.

Venice experiences something a couple times a year where the tide rises and the city floods. It's called "alta acqua" and the water can rise a few inches to a few feet. While we were in Venice, they experienced one of the more severe floods with the water rising as high as 12" in the streets.

My mom thought I was a little crazy for bringing my rain boots, especially since we were traveling with carry on luggage only. I am so thankful I had them. My husband on the other hand had to buy these weird thick plastic shoe cover things to keep dry. I was able to run splash wade through the water without worrying about getting wet.

Yup, I was one of those crazy people!

Since the city is used to the tides rising, they are able to prepare and put out wooden walkways. In the busy parts of the city, it's funny to see all these people shuffling along, almost like a ride line at Disney.

The tides splashing up onto the edge of the walk ways.

We stopped for lunch at a little hole in the wall. On the way there, my husband was giving us directions- "Make a right. Then another right. And another right." After the third one, I gave him the side eye since it seemed like we were going to go in circles. But in Venice, apparently that's how you get places!

The Rialto Bridge at night.

Hand-blown heart shaped glass balloons from Murano Island in Venice. I opted for a little green/teal colored one.

I really wanted to buy a ton of them to recreate this in our house, but that just wasn't in the budget.

 Photo from the Rialto Bridge with the Grand Canal in the background.

We saw a Disney Store and of course I had to take a picture. Mickey was all ready for the upcoming Carnival festival.

Overlooking Doge's Palace and the Grand Canal.

Inside the Basilica at St. Mark's Square. Millions of little gold tiles are used in the mosaic inside. It's ok if your mouth hangs open a little while you gaze at it, everyone else's are. ;)

Although I really wanted to take a gondola ride while in Venice, the rain kept us away. Apparently these people didn't mind!

All'Amarone Vineria

We ate at a little wine bar we found just a couple blocks away from the apartment we rented. On the way home after a few glasses of wine, we did have a few moments of "Was it a left? Or a right? Does that building look familiar?"

The walls are lined with little shelves that empty bottles and notes from the folks who enjoyed them. It was fun to read what other people had written.

The best bruchetta I have ever had.

Cheese platter. They always serve the cheese with honey- so good!

The next day we had to wake up at 4am to catch the water bus to take us to the airport to head home.

Even though it rained most of our time there, we both agreed that we'd love to return to Venice. Hopefully with better weather. :) 

Celebrating 4 Years of Marriage

Anniversaries. More than birthdays or holidays, this is the one day of the year you celebrate your relationship with that special someone.

This year, our 4th wedding anniversary, I will be spending it alone.

Definitely sucks and I am crossing my fingers that it will be the last anniversary we spend apart. That old saying- "distance makes the heart grow fonder"? So true.

But not to be a total debbie downer, here's a celebration in photos of our anniversaries past. Enjoy! :)

Wedding day fist-bump

Surfing lessons on our Honeymoon

To this day, still one of my favorite pictures

Our 1st Anniversary, celebrated at Disneyland

My husband surprised me with an impromptu trip.

Around our 2nd Anniversary at my Grandma's 90th Bday

Year #3- A quick B&B Vineyard Getaway

And since it's THT- one of our first photos together- NYE '06/'07. I married such a weirdo, huh? ;) 

Do you have a tradition for celebrating anniversaries?

Training Tuesday

Training Tuesday is officially back! Hopefully this means I'll also have some training to post about!

After slacking off taking a break from running for almost a month, it's time I lace up my shoes again. The WDW Marathon is now just under 31 weeks away and I know that I have a long road of training ahead. 

To kickstart my marathon training, I bought a new pair of shoes. They're the same as my other Brooks, just a different color. I have a good feeling about these pink guys. I've dubbed them "my marathon shoes." ;)

Daily Strength Training

In addition to getting back on a regular running schedule, I've been doing a strength training routine every night. It's mostly push ups and sit ups with some of the moves from Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred.

   15 push ups

   15 sit ups (I use an exercise ball)

   15 squat and presses

   10 squats w/ weights*

   15 dumbbell rows

   15 push ups

   15 sit ups

   15 lunges w/ bicep curl

   25 squats w/ weights*

   15 push ups

   15 sit ups

   15 side anterior raise w/ side lunge

   15 push ups

   15 sit ups

     *extra squats added to complete 50/day for the June squat challenge

It's simple enough that I can watch tv at the same time, yet is still a good work out. I'm hoping this will help with my running speed and stamina.

Weekly Recap

Tuesday: 2 miles

Wednesday: 2 miles

Thursday: rest

Friday: 3 miles

Saturday: rest

Sunday: rest

Monday: 2 miles

June squat count: 450

Work and life have been crazy, so I'm really enjoying my running to just clear my head and forget it all. Not to "let it go," cause let's face it, when I walk through my front door again, I get it all back. ;) 

A little funny moment one of my tellers had at work at our bank- a customer gave her this slip for a change order. I am not by any means making fun of what got lost in translation, but it did make me giggle. :)

How was your week? Have you ever had shoes that you had high hopes for?