A Week From Today

A week from today I will be in the Big Apple waiting 24 more hours to see John Mayer. And my mom will be on her way back home after her first trip to NYC EVER!

Why am I going to NYC, besides to get to play with my mom? Well, my guiltiest of pleasures, John Mayer, is having a CD release show at the Beacon Theater on November 17. And I am going. And I have 7th row center tickets. And it is going to be broadcast on Fuse. And maybe you will see me on TV?

Stay tuned for what else I plan to get into on my first trip to NYC since July 2008!

Sunday Funday

Started of the day with a great 70 minute walk around the neighborhood.

Brunch on the east side with a great friend where I three mimosas and an amazing entree of beef spare ribs, potatoes, and a side salad. We also split a bread basket with such spreads as Nutella, honey, butter, apple butter, and peanut butter. Before going I told myself I wasn't going to drink or have the bread basket even though it was one of my favorite things. But you know what? I don't drink mimosas often and I don't go to this restaurant often enough. So no hard feelings toward myself for indulging. Many laughs were had over the 2 hours we were there.

At this point I wanted to do something outside since the weather as amazing, but instead I fell asleep at home for two hours. Whoops. Once I woke up I was heading out to the grocery store when a change of plans occurred. I headed to the bar to meet another friend and watch the Titans/SF game and the Saints/Carolina game. While at the bar I ate dinner and had another beer. Totally unplanned, and soon after the one beer I realized I didn't need to be drinking anymore and switched to diet coke.

Hit the grocery store to pick up ingredients for lunch and dinner for the rest of the week. I eat well when I hit the grocery store on Sunday.

How I Spent My Saturday

I went to a 8:30 AM yoga class that was 75 minutes of pure bliss. Next I hit up the treadmill for 30 minutes. 20 of which I ran for 2 miles. Target where I scored some killer Halloween clearance goodies for my mom. Can you say paper napkins for .15 a package??? Home to shower.

Then I headed to the Warner Park system here in Nashville with my roommate where we did a short 2.5 mile Warner Woods moderate trail. We also did the scenic drive. The fall colors were amazing. Early dinner at Red Robin. Can you say fries with ranch dressing?

I know I live such an exciting life. It's 8:30 and I am ready for bed.

Happy Belated Halloween!

I hope you had and enjoyable Halloween! I know I did!

Will Run for Beer?

Well yes and no. I did run in the Germantown 5k Bier Run, and there was a beer waiting for me at the finish line, but I wouldn't say I normally run for beer :) It does help though!

The Results:

My time: 27:24. Heck yeah! A personal record!
I was 20 out of 85 in my age division.
I was 105 out of 379 in my sex place.
I was 353 overall out of 792 participants.
My pace was 8:51.

I am not sure if it was the cooler, weather, the flatter course, or the beer waiting for me at the end of the race, but whatever it was, I'll take it.

Just a Quick Check In

So today I was born 27 years ago in Olympia, WA.

It has been a glorious day. A 5 AM workout. A McDonald's Diet Coke. Lunch out at Pei Wei.

I booked a trip to Big Sky, MT in January. I got the e-mail invite today. I booked a few hours later. I haven't been skiing in 6 years...this should be interesting.

Dinner out with friends at one of my favorite bars in Nashville. I realized tonight that I haven't been there nearly enough when the bartender and the manager told me they missed me. The bartender sent over a birthday drink for me. A Jack and Diane. Or a JDC. Or commonly known as a Jack and Diet Coke. My roomie got me a cookie cake! The picture can be seen here. I forgot my digi camera at home and I am still trying to figure out my new cell phone. They sang happy birthday to me. Another friend got me tickets to see Little House on the Prarie: THE (mother freaking!) MUSICAL! Staring Melissa Gilbert as Ma. I am beyond excited about this. I think it would be a little too much if I wore my bonnet, no?

In case you didn't click on the picture, I got a hair cut last week. A sizeable chop. And I love it.

When my mom was here in earlier this month, she brought me a bunch of birthday goodies from the Nordstrom Anniversary sale. I don't covet anything as much as I do my new Tory Birch black ballerina flats. THANK YOU mom! I also scored a sweet patent leather wide Betsy Johnson Belt and a cashmere scarf. And a very practical black North Face Fleece. My roomie got me a super sweet sandwich cookie cake set that ROCKS. My first (of hopefully many) cake pans from Williams Sonoma.

Last night I spent the evening at my favorite venue, the Ryman, seeing the Decemberists perform. It was amazing, minus that guy, yes that guy sitting in front of me, who yelled out "FREEBIRD" at the end of every song. Colin even made fun of him and he still didn't shut up.

In other news I haven't weighed myself in a month.

Unitl next time.

The Results: Part Deux

My results:
Let me first start out by saying again I just wanted to finish under 30 and just maybe improve my time. I didn't do any real training and I had had a few off weeks.

I was in the female age group 25-29. There were 57 participants in this group.

I finished 14 out of 57 in my age division.

I finished 225 out of the 493 who wore timing chips.

I finished 72 among all women.

My chip time was 28:14.

My pace was 9:07.

Next 5k is October 10 and I hope to actually train a little for this one...

PS. My scale broke a few weeks ago and I ordered a new one. It was broken too and I sent it back. I am going scale free for reals for a while.

PPS RIP Patrick Swayze. I have loved Dirty Dancing since the second grade. I went and saw the 20th anniversary screening in the movie theater too, for one night only! (Don't judge!) One of my favorite clips is the Chippendales skit with another one of my favorites Chris Farley.

It's Only My Second Time

Tomorrow will be the second time I run an organized 5 K. Not quite sure how I will do in this one. I haven't been working out and exercising as much as I would have liked over the past month or so. So, yeah.

Playlist has been made and ipod will be charged soon. Did I mention there are cookies at the end of this race? This is my kind of race!

Ok, seriously. When did it become ok for me to eat starbursts and a crunch ice cream bar for an afternoon SNACK?

So I think I am going to take a little break from blogging. My 27th birthday is a month from tomorrow and I need to just figure some things out. Nothing ground breaking or anything.

I will still probably update twitter. You can find me @brownsarahk.

Somewhat Made Up

So last week I posted a picture with no make up and it got me thinking about my appearance. Now, I am not going to start wearing make everyday. But I did wear it on Friday and Saturday when I went out with friends.

Like I said before I usually just wear I make. I am also wearing bronzer and lip gloss.



I would like to start wearing it to work a little bit more often....

And on a completely different note I am finally realizing that about 3 years ago I was at my lowest weight, about 22 lbs lighter than I am now. However, my workout and eating styles have changed for the better. While I can fit into the close from a few years ago I feel like my body looks more toned. I definitely know I am eating a greater variety of food and more fruits and veggies which is a good thing.

So what is your make up routine?

TGIF (Almost) & No Make-Up Self Portrait

This week has been one for the books.

Eating has been less than stellar. No Gym today or Tuesday, but I did go twice on Monday. That should count for something right? But then I ate that brownie batter ice cream after the gym...

Oh and my girl Fat Bridesmaid is doing a no-make up self portrait tomorrow. I have decided to participate, but I don't really think it is too fair for me. If you have read this blog for any length of time you have already seen a picture of me sans makeup. I don't usually wear makeup, at least not to work. Well there were those two weeks Keith Urban was in the building... But for the most part I usually just "wear" moisturizer. If I do wear makeup it is usually only eye makeup. I probably really need to start wearing it...

But here is my self-portrait. Important for a few reason. This is what I normally look like. And today was the day I got my crown and veneer. The only thing I have left to do is wait for my retainers and possibly bleach my teeth again.



Do you have a no make-up self portrait? Let's see 'em!

European Adventure Part 2

I left this series off here after my first day in Paris. Day 2 in Paris was pretty close to perfect. Wait, the entire trip was perfect. I was able to sleep in. I woke up and wandered over to the Eiffel Tower. I decided since I had never climbed the stairs this would be my turn. I walked to the second stage. All 670 steps.



I checked out the sites from above:





Took a self portrait:



And I was on my way back down for a nice walk around the Parc du Champ de Mars.



Lunch.



I headed back to the hotel to shower and then headed out on a good 3 mile+ walk to the Luxembourg Gardens where I took a nice nap and read a book, and just people watched for a few hours.



I headed back to the hotel, this time by Metro to meet Alethea for dinner. We ate at nearby pizza place and spent the evening around the Eiffel Tower. And of course I had to have a Nutella Crepe.

Went to bed pretty early because the next day Alethea and I went on our bike tour to Giverny. We met up with the bike group at a train station and we settled in to our one hour train ride. The train actually took us to Vernon where we picked up lunch and our bikes. It was hot this day. Really hot and I wore jeans...

Lunch on the Seine. A lunch where I polished off a bottle of wine pretty much on my own and then had to ride a bike...


On the way to Giverny



The Ponds and Gardens











My bike for the day



There really are no words to describe what I saw. It was simply beautiful. I would love to go back during another season to see other flowers in bloom.

Our day came to a close around 3 PM and we headed back to Paris on the train.

The Results

28:22 total time
268 overall
38 in my age category

It's a start.

The Race

So I was pretty much a jumble of nerves this morning, only because I had never done anything like this before. So I park at my friend's condo which was a few blocks away from the start. I walk down to the starting area and of course I have to pee because that's what happens when I am nervous. A friend of mine from gym class, who we have been meaning to exchange contact info, was the one who suggest I run. Of course this was earlier in the week like Monday are Wednesday. I decide on Thursday I would run and we had planned on bringing our business cards on Friday. She wasn't in class. Ok, well I had paid my race fee so I was doing this thing. This morning I was standing around and I ran into a girl I went to grad school with. She has done a few races before, so I was pretty much at ease by this point. We basically stood around the start for 10 minutes and then all of the sudden we were off and my music was going. I actually put together a pretty good play list. You know, since I am not a seasoned runner by any means I don't have practice at this sort of thing.

Umm it was hot.

And slightly hilly, well more of a gradually incline (and decline too!)

And did I mention it was hot for 7:30 AM?

I didn't realize how much warmer it is at 7:30 AM than at 5 AM. So I was running along and my two goals were to not walk and to finish under 30 minutes. I knew I could do the no walking thing but I was unsure about the 30 minute thing. Usually when I run in boot camp the distance and time is never measured. We just run.

So here's the playlist:



About 100 yards before the finish, Play Your Part (Part 1) by Girl Talk came on and it was perfect. (I highly suggest listening to Girl Talk if you run.) I was able to pick up my pace for the last part.

And so I finished at some point in the 28 minute mark! I am not really sure what my exact time is yet because I was so excited to see 28 minutes that the seconds didn't really matter.

Oh and another thing. I wore shorts. In public. This is huge people.

I am off to breakfast with some friends.

You've Got To Start Somewhere

So I signed up to run a 5k yesterday that just so happens to be tomorrow. It will be the first "race" I have ever participated in. I am a little nervous. A little might be an understatement. I think the biggest thing is that I have not ran 3 miles straight in at least a month. It should be interesting. Plus it is going to be HOT. I would like to use my time tomorrow just to see where I stand. Possibly improve later on?

Must.get.sleep.