They all weigh 150 pounds!

I love this.

There is 'right' body type. Weight looks different on different people, and it is all okay. We shouldn't compare ourselves to other people's bodies. We've got to learn to love the body we are in now. 

I ran a 5k!

I did it! I did the impossible!

I, Ann Ethel Nelson, ran a 5k.

Yep. It took 36 minutes and 29 seconds. I didn't walk once.

Go me.


Yeah!















Now, I never have to run again. I gave it an honest try and still don't like it. 

Where in the world is Annie Sandiego?

I woke up at 6:30am today to birds chirping rather loudly. It is a sunny morning. 2 hours later, I am still in my PJs on my comfy chair. It's a good day. My eyes are tired and my lips are chapped but I am still happy to be awake.

Here's an update on my life: 

I've super busy studying -

Schoolwork always seems to be taking over my life. This semester I'm taking 4 math courses (I'm a math major). It is a lot of thinking and memorizing. One class is all abstract math - as in no numbers - as in (I think) completely pointless except to ruin my life and friendships. 

I still eat burritos - 

Ate some last night and they were delicious! There is nothing better in the world than eating a bean burrito. It is quick, cheap, yummy and not super unhealthy. Perfection.

I am still running - 

I don't know why I look so mean in that photo. Yes, I am still running. I have my first 5k this Saturday. I am nervous. I went from not being able to run for 3 minutes to being able to run 25 minutes straight. I am proud of myself. Although, I don't think I like running. It's exhausting and it hurts. I don't know why so many love it. But I am still training. Maybe it'll be better once I do it for "fun". I'm hopeful. 

I'm babysitting - 

It's hard to believe that my job includes such a cute little nugget. I love babysitting. It's really interesting for me to watch kids grow and develop and learn. That have the best personalities. Sure, there are bad days but there are really good days too. 

Currently, I'm looking forward to: 

Baking - 

Ha. That was my first batch of cupcakes I made with my new mixer. O yeah, my parents got me an electronic hand mixer and frosting tips for my birthday. I have a new dream of being a baker. I know those cupcakes aren't the prettiest things but they were tasty! They were chocolate cupcakes with salted carmel frosting. I mostly wanted to play around my new frosting tips. If you want to see a better example of my decorating, look above at the birthday cake. I'm really excited to have time to bake again. So friends, if you live near me and need some baked goods - let me know. I would be happy to help. I need the practice.

Camping - 

I love to camp. Since, I was in Yellowstone last summer, I didn't get the opportunity to camp much (weird, I know). I'm hoping this summer will entail lots of camping trips. I'm just going to force all my friends that I've been neglecting to come and camp with me - we will bond and hopefully rekindle our friendship through late night talks around a bonfire and bathing in Lake Michigan. 

Yosemite National Park-

Ta Da! My boyfriend and I are going to Yosemite National Park in June. I am super pumped! I've wanted to go to Yosemite ever since I worked in Yellowstone in 2008. We'll be spending a week there - camping, sight-seeing, and hiking. Most importantly, we are hiking the half- dome. I am beyond thrilled/excited/scared for this hike.

Let me tell you a little bit about Yosemite's "half-dome." But first, a picture - 

Yes, that dome thing is what we'll be climbing. It's a geologically phenomena. It's a granite crest that rises more than 4,737 feet above the valley floor... And I'm hiking it. EEK! It's day hike* that is 14.2 miles roundtrip and an elevation gain of 4,800 feet. 4,800 feet! That's almost a mile! People die yearly on this hike. Only 400 people a day are aloud to go to the top. Luckily, my boyfriend and I are two of the 400 who will ascend on Thursday, June 21 2012. Here's a picture of the last part of the hike: 

It's a 400 foot climb at a 45 degree angle with two waist-high cables. I'm tired just looking at it. 

Anyways, that's my little (quite large actually) update on my life. 

*the boyfriend and I are going to try to get a camping permit so we don't have to hike it in one day - but it is highly unlikely we'll be able to get one for the half-dome hike because they are so highly sought after.

I like this photo.

hiking in the Grand Tetons

Life will be good when...

I often get this idea in my head that goes something like this:

"Life will be good after (fill in date)" 

Most recently, my idea was "life will be good after Spring Break". 

To me, 'life will be good' means several things: 

• I'll be organized
• All my laundry will be done, dishes put away, floors vacuumed, everything will have a spot, and no floating papers (schoolwork, mail)
• I'll eat healthy
• Dinner will be cooked at home, veggies and fruits are in the fridge - ready to be eaten as snacks, and bagged lunch will be made the night before for school the next day
• I'll exercise
• Work out at least 3 times a week
• I'll have "me" time
• Time to read, time to blog, time to sit and stare at leaves on a tree
• I'll have time for friends
• I'll see at least 2 friends a week
• I'll do all my school work early
• Study ahead of time, write papers early

I'm serious. I have all these ideas in my head and I always seem to fall into a trap of "life will be good after..." ... THEN,  life will be good. Ahh, yes - I can't wait.

But then. Ka Plunk! It doesn't happen. This past experience was the most eye-opening of them all. I was just waiting for Spring Break to come so I could re-vamp my life. I was going to go through all my clothes and closets and cupboards and re-organize everything! I was going to call all my old friends and re-kindle friendships. I was going to sit outside and read The Hunger Games. 

Guess what I did when I had time to do those things over Spring Break?

I watched Gilmore Girls and took naps. I slept in until 11 and didn't do much at all. I was lazy. I was really lazy. 

And then it hit me. Ka Plunk! My excuse for not doing any of those things above was "I'll do them after..." I was PROCRASTINATING. So, one day I just started doing those things. It wasn't easy and it still isn't. 

For example: I wasn't doing my laundry because my thought was "I'll do laundry after Spring Break". But then it kept pilling up. And then I didn't do any laundry over Spring Break. And then I didn't have any clean underwear. And then I realized - it's okay to do one load of laundry if that's all the time you have. 

I kept waiting for a whole day to do my laundry (and everything else). I thought Spring Break would've be enough time - it was a whole week. But after working, going to Troy, and being lazy - my time was out. It was Sunday night and I hadn't done anything. My life was never going to be good. 

So back to my rude awaking... (you can probably tell where this is going) I realized life can be good right now. So what if everything isn't organized? That doesn't mean I have to leave all my crap out just because my closet isn't organized. 

So, I'm putting my life back together. I'm living again. It feels good to not be overwhelmed by a growing a list of things to do. Now, my list of things to-do isn't growing - it's just sitting there - waiting for a spare hour or two so something can be check off. I don't need a whole day/week to get my life back in order. I just needed a new mindset. 

Now to switch gears (only a little bit). Part me living again means I'm eating healthy again. YAY! Only about 10 days ago, my diet consisted of gummy worms, BBQ Kettle-cooked chips, and Little Caesar's Pizza. I am not kidding, that is what I ate one day (no more, no less). I was feeling GROSS. So, I changed that. I went to the store at 8 am (that is the only time that works for me - soo early) and bought a lot of healthy things. Like SALAD. 

LOOK! 

I just ate that about 2 hours ago. It's "Spring Mix" lettuce, with feta, red onion and kalamata olives. Sure, I put on dressing that 100 calories a tablespoon. But ya know what? I probably wouldn't eat all those dark leafy cancer killing greens if I couldn't put a good dressing on it. 

And then for dessert? Chocolate milk! I know, chocolate milk isn't healthy. But it's better then a tub of ice cream. Look, it's 200 calories a cup (I buy the good stuff):

So I'm not a healthy perfect eater. But that's okay. Because when I strive for perfection, I end up procrastinating and never doing anything that I truly want. 

I'm making my little baby steps towards my "life is good" list. And ya know what?

Life is good. 

12-minute mile

This is how I feel about running:

Follow my progress here.  

Running Goal #1 Accomplished

I did it! I did the first day of running and....

it completely sucked. But I did it!

Since I am doing the "couch to 5k" training guide, I had to walk for 90 seconds and then run for 60 seconds. Before I started, I thought - this is going to be so easy! I was wrong - WAY wrong. I forgot how bad of a runner I am. It was hard for me to run 60 seconds. 60 seconds!? yes, I can't believe it either.

I didn't like it and here's why:
- my hands were freezing (I walked/ran back to grab gloves)
- my throat/breathing tube was freezing - it really hurt.
- the sun was in my eyes (do runners wear sunglasses?)
- I was out of breath and that's a bad feeling
- I rather be sleeping
- I rather be eating
- I rather be be baking

BUT, I am going to continue doing it. I made a goal and I really want accomplish it. It was my first run, I don't think it's suppose to be that great. I have the time in my life to do it now so I am. I am going to give running a fair shot.

Here's a picture of me right before:

I'm really excited about my new running gear. 

Running!

I have never run a mile in my life. NEVER. Not in grade school, not in high school, not in college - never. When we "had" to run in high school, I ran a lap then walked a lap. It took me 17 minutes. I have no idea how it took me that long.

I've always been VERY negative towards running. I thought it was stupid. It wasn't just something that I didn't like, it was something that I thought was unhealthy and a waste of time. Runners always seem to have bad knees and poor joints. Why would I ever want to force myself to try something so ridiculous? 

Yet, there is it - a picture a me wearing running shoes, leggings, shorts, and fancy t-shirt. I am going to try running and here's why:

• The boyfriend. He started running over the summer and ran his first 5k. Ever since then, he's gone running crazy - reading books, researching the best running form, and signing up for all sorts of crazy running events. He has a huge influence on me and considering I spend a lot of time with him, I think he's slowly been brainwashing me to believe that running is good. 

• The description of "running is like jumping". I read this while researching the history of running. It never occurred to me that running is like jumping from one step to the next. I love to jump. It's in the categories of dancing and laughing. It's a fun thing to do. Maybe running will be a fun thing to do.

• The community. Runners have a huge awesome community full of really nice people. That's attractive to me. I saw my brother run a half marathon not too long ago and I was really surprised at how nice everybody seemed. There was something in the air and I wanted to be a part of it. 

• The health benefits. Despite my previous concerns (bad knees/joints), running is healthy. It gets your heart rate up and releases endorphins (which makes you happy or something - I never really understood endorphins). I'm still a little bit concerned about the bad knees and achy feelings but that doesn't mean I shouldn't try. I can quit at anytime. 

• The boyfriend again. He gets mentioned twice because he was that influentional. Did I mention he bought me all that neat running gear for Valentine's day? Yeah, he's pretty awesome. 

My two running goals:

#1) Go running on Friday at 9am. Like I said earlier, I never run. Starting is going to be the hardest part.

#2) Do a 5k on May 12, 2012. That's the date of the Riverbank Run in Grand Rapids. I'm going to do it. I'm going to follow the "Couch to 5k" training plan and run Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. 

I'm going to do it. I am going to run at least a mile and that will feel good. I want to feel that pride and work hard for it. If I hate it, then I don't ever have to do it again. 

Also, I forgot to put on deodorant today and I don't know what to do about it. 

This is what I will look like on Friday morning - just add red hair.

Boston Creme Pie

I'm going to make a list of things I want to do before I have kids. Now, I am nowhere near having kids right now but I really like the idea of making a list of things I want to do before I give up my life and personal dreams for kids (that's sounds bitter... it's not meant to be). So the first thing on my list is to take a baking class. I love to bake and always have. In particular, I really want to learn how to decorate things. I want to make beautiful frosting flowers and learn how to use fondue on a cake. I might try to adventure on my own a bit. 

Speaking of baking, I made my boyfriend Boston Creme Pie for Valentine's Day. It's his favorite kind of dessert. It was quite an adventure. It started with dancing to Edward Shape and The Magnetic Zeros. No really, it did - look: 

                                            

After dancing for way too long, it was time to stop procrastinating and start baking! This is the recipe I used: Boston Creme Pie . It's from Kraft foods which makes it sketch. I usually like to go all out (everything from scratch) when I bake but today I didn't have much time. This recipe uses things like boxed cake mix, instant vanilla pudding, and cool whip. It's strange to bake with things that don't come in a 2 lb bag. 

It appeared super simple... but of course I make everything complicated: 

Oops! That's not suppose to happen.... BUT thankfully, I baked two 9-inch cakes even though the recipe calls for one (I almost didn't notice this). 

Problem areas that I need to work on for next time: 

• Cutting cake layers evenly
• Un-lumpy frosting (sorry boyfriend)
• Decorating 
• Making my own decorating frosting

But after all those mishaps - it still turned out pretty darn good. It's not perfect but I know he'll love it. 

I dyed the creme in the middle pink and put a heart on it for Valentine's day. So there it is, my first Boston Creme Pie. 

Now, I need to go buy more baking supplies. Actually, I need to save up for baking supplies and then take a class. If anybody knows of good places to purchase baking supplies, let me know. Meijer (local grocery store) doesn't have much.