what happens when you fall off the wagon? you just have to start somewhere....

  

oh boy, where do i begin? i have never been on a hiatus this long, but i swear it has been warranted and i truly have missed it. i literally do not even KNOW where to begin.....maybe, i will just rewind through my Instagram pictures and go from there....buckle up!

drew and i decided that we needed to start looking for a new place to live - we loved where we were, but we were kind of outgrowing it (no, no surprise announcements, we just buy a lot of stuff). with him back in school at Carlson, a space for him to hide away and study was important. we were also living in a duplex and we were (specifically, me) over sharing a front door and recyling with other people. when we were first discussing, i made it clear that there was no way i would buy a house right now, that is too big of a commitment and i wouldn't have money to pay for anxiety pills. fast forward a few weeks, many property searches and mortgage calculations, he had convinced me that buying would be more financial savvy than renting. being the fab people we are, we started our search with chic condos in DT St. Paul (disk scratching noise) which quickly resulted in looking for houses for several reasons such as association fees, less than 1,000 square feet and resale values. bless our realtor's heart (many times over, more to come on that), he was great about showing us properties all across the spectrum since we didn't even know what we wanted - if you have been 'lucky' enough to search for your first home, you know exactly what i mean. oh, how your mind and priorities change!

**plot twist**

just as we were heating up the search, drew tore his MCL playing in a late-night soccer league. i won't elaborate too much on this since he had already met his deductible for 2013 and injuries are nothing new around our house, but just to put your mind at ease, he has healed wonderfully (he is a freak at healing, think Hulk) and is well on the road to recovery. we are tied at 5 knee surgeries apiece and while i am competitive, i plan to stay in the yoga studio to avoid winning this one. thank the lord i had some help around the house while he was laid up....

"if you're not first, you're last"

 

 

the night before drew went into surgery and before he was really laid up, our realtor set up 4 showings, including one that we had cancelled previously. the last house for the night, past my bedtime at 9:30, we found our house! yes, it was the one that we had turned down before. what can we say? our realtor knew what he was doing! :) our house (i can call it ours now that we have moved in) was a flip house - prior to them flipping it, it was basically condemned, but they worked their magic and everything was brand new: carpet, furnace, plumbing, electrical, appliances, etc., basically a dream come true!


before (you needed a tetanus shot)

after

i don't even know where to connect the dots between putting in an offer and closing....

per usual, we counter-offered with the sellers several times before coming to an agreement. once an agreement had been reached, we found out that the house required an updated Certificate of Occupancy with the city of St. Paul before we could move in. after adjusting our offer and the contingencies, we set a closing date for January 17th. a week before closing, we received word that the city inspection had passed, the certificate had been issued and everything was in place to close on January 17th.

**plot twist**

we found out 2 days before closing that they did not show up to the inspection so an inspection had not been completed and we were so not good to close. thankfully, the city inspector was able to get out there the next day to sign everything off to ensure we could close on time.

**plot twist**

the city inspector was out there and signed everything off, but was out of the office the next 2 days and could not complete the appropriate paperwork for verification. oh yea, and the sellers didn't even show up to closing. awesome. so, this is where we were at - drew and i were leaving for Mexico in less than 2 weeks (more on that later) and needed to be out of our current place before we left. forget that drew was still healing and forget that we had that thing called work. to make a (really) long story, short, we spent the weekend sulking (and shopping) and the next week living out of the boxes we had already packed, but were able to close the following friday. we are now homeowners! and honestly, it was worth every sleepless night and headache - we absolutely love it! another amazing thing? as stressed and as tired as we were, we didn't argue once! we were in it together from the beginning and we just hunkered down (with a bottle of wine) and pushed through. maybe buying a house is for married people, but as i have mentioned before, drew and i tend to go by our own rules. plus, my kitchen is ALMOST as good as a ring :)


we were exhausted, but excited. the cats were just confused.

oh, the holidays? yea, we basically skipped those this year - like every year, we went our separate ways to continue family traditions (and we both had a blast, but can't wait to actually spend a holiday together).  mexico?! well, we literally just got back from mexico and i think that deserves  it's own post since MY BROTHER GOT MARRIED!!! did i forget to mention drew's birthday?! in the midst of the madness, drew turned 28 and he definitely feels older (must have been that 5th knee surgery). we spent the night out going to dinner at The Smack Shack (highly recommend it) followed by Acme Comedy club (even higher recommended). good food and lots of laughs, exactly what we needed! OH! i knew i was forgetting something - OUR ANNIVERSARY! with drew's surgery, the holidays, drew's birthday, going to mexico, buying a house and our anniversary, we had to pick and choose a few celebrations. we didn't plan anything for our anniversary this year (OMG, i didn't even do a Instagram collage) because we were supposed spend our anniversary with a magical weekend moving into our first home. well, as you now know, that fell through and whoever thought that moving was magical? moving sucks! anyway, we pushed back our celebration with the closing and after a day of moving, we exchanged cards, drank a glass of wine and rock, paper, scissored who was going to hang old curtains over our windows (we didn't get blinds hung as quickly as we expected) before collapsing into bed. before passing out, we promised our next anniversary would be more glamorous. again, we go by our own rules.  

i promise once i get caught up, i will return to the purpose of my blog - recipes and fitness (and cats)!

always striving for more,
dee b.

.:my LAST 1/2 marathon:.

when i signed up for this race, i didn't expect it to be my last one. while i wasn't surprised when my doctor told me that after this race i needed to quit running and take on less impact activities,  i had a 'minor' freak out. what was i going to do with all the time that i had spent running? how was i going to stay in shape and more importantly, how was i going to 'escape' to keep my sanity?'.

i began cherishing every training run and every run resonated emotions that i have ever noticed before. i found myself in tears, more than once, running my typical route to my typical playlist not only realizing that these moments were limited, but also frustrated. i was frustrated that my knee was having a hard time keeping up with the rest of my body. i knew my knee was bad, but apparently, i was ignorant at how rapidly it was deteriorating with every mile that i had ran. as the run became closer, my training transitioned to the elliptical. three weeks before, i was feeling confident that i would be able to at least finish strong....and then i got sick with strep and a double ear infection. needless to say, by the time i hit the starting line, i wasn't running for a PR anymore, i was running to finish. my only goal now was to run the entire way.

the morning of the run, my mom, brother and i drove to the starting corrals (in a Camaro, might i add-my brother knows people, nbd). we stretched, hit the restrooms and said a prayer before joining the rest of the runners. my brother headed to the front of the pack, knowing he was going to kick ass, while my mom and i hovered in the 2 hour time group reminsicing about my first race, our first race and how this crazy world of running brought us closer. 

the course was absolutely breathtaking. from the streets of Vancouver, to the Redwood trees of Stanley Park and along the seawall of the coast, the views were spectacular. Lululemon did a great job keeping us entertained along the 13.1 miles. there were neon people rappelling off the Lululemon factory, mermaids hanging out by the bay and our turn around point was in front of the FIRST Lululemon store, cool, right? thank goodness the views were great because it helped take my mind off how not in shape i was. even after 6-ish ibuprofen, my knee was stiff and sore by mile 4 and it all went downhill from there. i honestly can't even remember our time, it defintely wasn't a PR, but i ran the entire way, thanks to my mom! my mom was an awesome companion, either staying by my side or going ahead a few steps to keep pushing me. and my brother? he killed it coming in around 1:36. what a stud!

of course, i have pictures to share:.

obviously, still feeling good....

in the zone:.

contemplating how much that sucked...

his first and last time coming to my running events

we did it!

honestly, i thought i was going to have a lot of emotions over not running anymore, most of them being sad, but the way my body felt after this run made it easier to walk away. it's been 6 weeks since i last ran and my knee has never felt better (ok, maybe it did when i was 14). i am grateful for everything that running has done for me. from weight loss, to being a great transition out of competitive sports and to seeing beautiful scenery, i realize that i am stronger mentally and physically to move on yet again to something better for my knees. as my brother keeps getting himself more involved in the running world and my mom continues to succeed in her journey, i'm not jealous or bitter, but i am happy for them. i hope running brings them all the things that it brought me.


always striving for more,
dee b.