Friday Favorites: Maddux Edition

Happy Friday! I'm linking up with Mar, Cynthia, and Courtney today for the Friday Five.  It's a free topic week, and since I got so much random rambling out yesterday, I figured I would do a more focused post today.  As you guys know, Maddux is my heart and soul.  He's my best bud and now that we're going on five years together, we have quite a collection of favorites.

1. Treat balls.  Maddux LOVES these.  The IQ treat ball is his absolute favorite, but this one is a close second for when the first one rolls under furniture.  My pup is not the most energetic guy (even when he was younger!), but you should see this dog move to get his treats.

2. Bil Jac Little Jacs treats.  Maddux is a short legged fella, and weight is something we always have to keep in mind.  Even a couple of extra pounds can be tough on his old joints.  These are small (sometimes I even break them in half!) so they are ideal for our walks and to put in his various balls and puzzles.

3. Treat Puzzles.  His favorite one is a bottle spinner toy that my mom made.  I bought a couple others from Petsmart, but he figured them out so fast that they don't hold his attention for quite as long.  Like I said earlier, that dog loves his treats!   

4. Burt's Bees wipes.  We have been using these constantly through this whole snow thing.  The salt they put down isn't the best for pup paws, and I feel better knowing that he is getting a wet wipe and a towel wipe.  Which brings me to the next point.... 

5. Muddy Buddy towel.  This is like the "shamwow" for dogs.  It dries really fast and to me it is easier to use than a towel because of how your hands can fit in the little pockets.  Maddux loves getting dried off with it!

What products does your pet love?  Maddux used to get a Bark Box, a monthly subscription with treats and toys, but we quickly got a huge surplus of treats and Maddux has enough toys for an entire city of dogs.  We loved it though, and will definitely go back one day!  We actually got the Muddy Buddy in one of our boxes!

Just for the record--This is just a list of our favorites and I am not being paid in any way to give them a shout out.  Have a great weekend!

Thinking Out Loud #2

Happy Thursday!  I'm joining Amanda again for her Thinking Out Loud Thursday link up.  It's kind of nice having a place to dump some of my random thoughts.  I'm looking forward to seeing what's going on with you guys this week!

1. Snow days are wonderful.  For some reason I associate snow days with organizing.  I guess it's like you have a bonus day where you have nothing else planned so you may as well deal with the piles of crap?  Anyway, I unpacked two boxes that have been sitting and waiting for months and it feels so good to have a better handle on life.

Living room is pretty much done!  Woohoo!

2. Shoveling is an awesome workout.  I'd prefer to never have to do it again, but at least I earned all those cookies I ate while snowed in.

3. Body Pump is still my favorite.  Although at first I was kind of bummed that our songs stay pretty much the same (the instructor changed around a couple this week!), I'm kind of glad that they are consistent.  I have a better idea of what is coming and I feel like I'm finally ready to add a little weight to some of the tracks.  Even though I haven't had nearly the mileage that a half marathoner in training should have, I am proud of myself for my cross training this time around.  Stretching and strength are bound to help in some capacity, right?

Didn't want to do push ups anyway.

4.  Why is it that when I have decided to try to save some money I find a million races I want to do?  So far I've been strong and have resisted and I keep telling myself that these races are good ones that will be around next year.

5. Ok, so still on my Gilmore Girls binge and every time I can't understand what Lorelei sees in Jason.  Yuck.

6.  I'm ready to run again!  I realize it hasn't even been a week yet, but I finally am feeling like I want to run and it's killing me that I can't.  I'm really hoping that the sidewalks will be cleared off by this weekend, but at least my neighborhood isn't super busy so I should be ok on the roads.  

7. I really want a bike, yet I know nothing about bikes.  I found a cute one that is reasonably priced, but who knows if it is a good one.  I would use it more for errands than for high mileage, so that probably makes a difference?  Anyone have any advice?  (Also, does the saying "it's like riding a bike" really hold true?  It's been a while.  Am I going to completely embarrass myself?)

8.  I'm going to leave you with a random fun fact from my calendar: Buzz Aldrin's mom's maiden name was Moon!  How crazy?  Did anyone else love the Astronaut Wives mini series on ABC?  It was fabulous. 

Tell me something random going through your mind!  Any fun facts you have learned recently?  What workouts are you loving lately?

Uh, Sunday 5?

Hello from the frozen north!  (AKA DC area) I missed posting on Friday because it was my nice friend's birthday and we have been filling our snowy days with the perfect amount of laziness.  I can't wait to read how you guys have been spending your weekend!  Be sure to check out the Friday Five link up with Mar, Cynthia, and Courtney!

1. I went for one last run before the snow hit!  Guys, this run was just what I needed.  I have been in such a weird place with running, and this run was really fun.  Nothing special or out of the ordinary, but it was one of those days when I just wanted to keep running.  I also found a new trail near my house! I ran into a fellow runner who told me of plenty of other connecting trails, too.  I see many happy exploring runs in my future!

Honker, I mean hunker down geese!  Hope they stayed warm.

2. We beat Mario.  Super adults.

3. We finished our puzzle! 

4. We did (part of) this work out by Julie over at Peanut Butter Fingers.  It was a great way to break a little sweat when we couldn't get out of the house.

Thanks, Julie!  This was a good one!

5. I started reading Bart Yasso's book.  I've been meaning to read it for a while, but it kept getting pushed back because of library holds coming available and people lending me books.  Let me tell you, it is dumb to read a book about running fun when you can't actually go outside for a run.  I'm ready to get those roads clear so I can make Bart proud! (Who knows, I might meet him again at Shamrock!  Just for the record, he is the nicest guy and really fun to chat with!  I was lucky to have the opportunity to hang with him while working the J&A booth at the race last year.)

Who else was snowed in this weekend?  How did you spend your time?  I spent plenty of time napping, Netflixing, and cookie baking, too.  Perfect snow day activities!  Stay warm, friends!

Thinking Out Loud

Hello!  I hope you all are staying warm.  We're supposed to get a ton of snow in the DC area this weekend.  Not my favorite thing to hear!  A lot of you guys know that I took a pretty long blog hiatus, so now that I'm getting back into the swing of writing again I find myself having a lot of random things to say, but no real topics to concentrate on.  I recently stumbled upon Amanda's Thinking Out Loud link up and it seemed like the perfect place to get out some of the randomness that has built up! 

1. I finished an amazing book today.  I highly recommend The Lake House by Kate Morton (and all of her other books!).  It was one of those you almost hate for it to end because you enjoyed reading it so much. There were tons of twists and I kept revising my theories about how it was going to wrap up.

2. Am I the only one who has to leave notes to remember new medications?  Poor Maddux is on a liver supplement (he's ok, we're just trying to figure out what some off levels in his blood mean).  It has to be given on a full stomach, so I've been super paranoid about missing it and have resulted to leaving little post its as reminders.  I will keep you updated when I know what's going on with my little man.

3. Body Pump is amazing.

4. I am starting to really like yoga.  It challenges me in a way that running doesn't and it is kind of nice to be forced to slow down.  One of my new year's mantras (I guess that's the right word for it?) is to be mindful, and I'm hoping this helps! I'm also hoping adding Body Pump and yoga into my weekly routine will help my running.

5. The other day our heat broke (honestly, it was good timing.  If you have to break do it in time to get fixed before the blizzard!).  Poor Maddux looked so pathetic all snuggled up in his blanket.

6. I have been binge watching Gilmore Girls.  My sister got me hooked on the Gilmore Guys podcast (which was a life saver on my drive from Alabama to Virginia!).  Listening to them talk about some of the minute details made me want to go back and rewatch them all (again). 

7. I was all pumped to try my first Hungry Harvest delivery this weekend, but it got cancelled because of the impending doom blizzard.  Since I'm no longer getting my bread delivered, I figured I would stop by Panera and get a loaf to get me through the next few days (just in case!).  Grocery stores = crazy lines and no bread, Panera = no lines and lots of bread.  I call it a win.

8. Grad school starts back up again on Monday!  It's been really nice to have a break and I know the next four months are going to fly by.  

I hope you guys all have a safe, warm weekend!  (And that you get to start it a little early like I do!)

Friday 5: My Blogging Hiatus

Happy Friday!  I'm linking up with Mar, Courtney, and Cynthia for the Friday Five.  My life has been a bit chaotic the past 6 months, and while I've had tons of things to write about, I just haven't had the motivation to do so.  Here's a quick look back at some of the highlights:

• I moved:  I had been thinking about it for a while (you know the whole rent goes way up, apartment doesn't get any better thing) and I finally found the right place.  Maddux is loving our new neighborhood.  I ran 8 miles in my neighborhood without getting bored or having to run the same streets over and over.  I can definitely get used to it! My new place is quite a bit smaller than my old place, but I am slowly getting organized and making the most of the space I have.  It's also been a good chance to declutter a bit. 

Side story: I bought Maddux this bed years ago.  This is the first time
he has EVER got on it on his own.  It was a very exciting 2 minutes for me.

• My little brother got married!  It was the most perfect, special weekend and I couldn't ask for a better sister-in-law!  

• Lots of J&A races:  The Wicked 10k, Harbor Lights Half (on my birthday!), and Surf-n-Santa 5 Miler were all amazing races and I'm glad that I was able to make it down for them.  

• I went to Vegas:  Over the summer my aunts and I decided that we'd run away together to go see Reba and Brooks and Dunn.  It was my first trip out and I loved getting to see my idol again.  

Reba and corgis.  My favorite things.

• Shamrock training has begun:  Well, kind of.  Honestly, 2015 wasn't a huge running year for me.  I finally PRed in the half and 5k and since then it has been really hard to be motivated to train.  I had been working so hard to get those PRs and when I finally did I wasn't really sure what to do next.  On the plus side, I started Body Pump a couple of weeks ago!  I'm hoping that the added strength training will help my running.  I'm also going to try to incorporate some yoga into my plan, too.  

Life is calming down a little now that the holidays are over, but since I now have a working camera you might see a few more updates from me from time to time.  I'm also going to attempt doing a weekly training update, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.  

Have a great weekend!