Good Lord it is HOT in Florida

Why did we move here again? It was awesome when we moved here at the end of February and there were already signs of spring. By the time we got settled into our house, I can only remember one day of walking Skeletor that was uncomfortable because it was cold. I loved the chance in March and April to be outdoors walking him.

I fear that now we've reached a point where there's no going back. About a week ago, we had a string of beautiful days: breezy with highs around 78. This week, the HOT is back, and it's looking like it's here to stay. My run this morning (I missed running yesterday evening because of errands, shopping and generally having fun with my husband) was brutal. For the first time since starting the Couch to 5K program I wasn't able to keep up with the routine. I was supposed to run 2-10 minute intervals and I had to stop and walk for about 90 seconds with 4 minutes left in the second run. I definitely didn't help that I hadn't drank enough water before heading out and I didn't carry any with me, but the heat and the humidity just made it so hard to feel like was getting enough air. And this was not in the middle of the afternoon, this was at 8:30 in the morning.

So anyway, I'm a little disappointed, but at least I think I've discovered that I'm not a first thing in the morning runner. I think from now on I'll try to stick to my "normal" schedule of walking Skelly in the morning and running in the evening. My plan is to do today's run again on Saturday before moving on to the "Day 3" run for this week. That scheduled run is 25 minutes with no walks, so I definitely want to have some positive momentum going into that. And I just try to keep telling myself that getting out there and running at all is the real accomplishment and I shouldn't beat myself up about being perfect.

Part of me also feels bad that I missed the run yesterday. Not to mention the fact that I swapped it for a bacon cheeseburger at Cracker Barrel while I was out shopping. Logical, smart, self-confident me knows that it's mentally better for me to have a treat like that once in a while rather than avoid eating out like the plague and restrict myself. The problem is just that self-conscious, body-image obsessed me is still very much a part of me and wants to convince me that one cheeseburger automatically makes me an unhealthy person. The struggle is still there, but I'm happy to say that I feel like the balance has definitely shifted to the positive attitude.

It helps that I really had a good time yesterday. After making some delicious French toast for lunch, Adam and I headed out to go shopping in Destin. First, we stopped at Michael's. It was the first time I had been to this one and the scrapbook section was ENORMOUS. I walked around and saw everything, but nothing was on sale so I walked out empty-handed (but with plenty of ideas in mind for when paper or paper packs go on sale 50% off). Adam stayed busy at a discount bookstore next door and ended up with a $5 about Iraq.

Then we went to the Bass Pro store, where Adam was similarly restrained. He looked around at just about everything, but the only thing we bought was a camping mini-spatula for my scrapbooking. I know it sounds bizarre, but I'm going to use it to lift stuff off the cutting mat of my Slice. Making Memories makes a tiny spatula specifically for that, but it's about $6. This one at Bass Pro was $2 and we got a military discount. I was so impressed that my husband could go to this store and come out with something for me, I let him convince me that we should go to Cracker Barrel. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

On our last stop, my earlier thriftiness paid off. I talked Adam into checking out the "Scrapbook Clearance Center" since we don't get out to Destin very much. Everything in there is 50% off everyday. There was definitely a lot of weird stuff that I can understand why it was clearanced, but the store was pretty big and had plenty of good stuff, too. By promising Adam that I would only buy plain cardstock and page protectors for the month of July, I justified spending almost $30 at the end of the month, when we're pretty broke. $30 went a LONG way though. I took pictures of all the stuff I got when I got home.


A super-cute kit of dog papers, stickers, etc.


Six sets of American Crafts letter stickers


30 sheets of GORGEOUS American Crafts paper. I LOVE the fact that these have a coordinating solid color on the back. It makes putting a page together so easy.


Finally, an Air Force die cut and my little spatula. I think I'll have to give it a try today, just to see how it works. :)

Alright, I know this is already way too long, but I'm WAY behind in posting pages I've finished. All these days off have resulted in LOTS of scrapbooking. And all this new stuff is calling my name today. I've got to get my laundry under control, but I'm sure I'll sneak in some time to play with paper. Here are just a couple of my more recent layouts.


Obviously, I'm trying to get as much use as possible out of that dotty patterned paper. :) I used this sketch from So Sketchy! for the layout and I LOVE the way it turned out. The papers are so bright and fun and there's not too much else going on to clutter it up.


This one is NOT based on a sketch (gasp!). I think it came out a little plain/boring, but I just didn't have embellishments that matched. And I generally think that adding too little is better than adding too much. I never want to take away from the photo(s).