The Little Things
March 17, 2014

On Saturday I took by far the most important test I’ve ever taken: The Clinical Mental Health Counseling Exam. Obviously- a spoiler alert to the story: I passed!

The last six weeks I’ve been consumed with studying for this test. I went to work, exercised, and studied until I started my “shut down” before bed. Weekends were completely consumed with studying. Basically, I studied a lot.

I didn’t get the confirmation that I could sign up for this test until last Monday (it took three months from the time I started to send in paperwork until the time everything was approved), and I signed up for Saturday at 1:30. I ended up spending Friday night at my friend’s house (a friend from grad school who had recently passed the test), and that was so good for my anxiety. It was relaxing and fun, and I slept better than I had in the entire previous week. I got up, did half an hour of relaxing pilates moves, ate a huge breakfast (bowl of oatmeal, 3 eggs, and four sausages- go protein!), and hung out for awhile before my hour drive to the testing site.

I ended up getting there a full hour, and paced around for a bit before eating a protein bar (I had tried to eat lunch and just couldn’t get much down. I was too nervous). Then it was go time! You have 4 hours to take the test, plus additional time for a practice simulation and survey at the end. There are 10 clinical simulations, with lots of questions for each simulation. I had no real idea of how long it would take, but I guessed I could be done in about 2 hours. I ended up flying through the first few simulations in 7 minutes each, so i would take about 1 minute in between to deep breathe. I had used the counselingexams.com website to practice, and those simulations were much harder than the actual test! The test flew by!

Once I hit the 10th simulation, I got a little nervous. This was it, I couldn’t turn back, and if I didn’t pass, it was $200 down the drain! I hit submit and then stumbled towards the front of the testing office. Luckily they print your results immediately. The woman grabbed my sheet, looked down, and handed it to me without any reaction. I immediately thought I might have failed, since she had been very friendly before the test. I looked down and saw this:

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Pass! YAY!!!! I was so relieved. I did a little dance and started to laugh and cry all at once. This is five and a half years in the making (yes- it takes a long time to become a licensed counselor), and I’m so glad to be done with this part of the journey. From here the scores get sent to the state, and they process it and send out my license! YAY. So then I’ll be a licensed mental health counselor and a licensed clinical addictions counselor (i’ve had that license since 2011).

I bought a few little treats for myself after the test, but am planning on getting frozen yogurt with a friend tonight and maybe a massage at the end of the week.

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For now I’m relieved, excited, and in need of a break!

March 16, 2014

Because of the beautiful weather we had on Friday the 7th, I ended up moving my long run for this week from the 8th to the 7th. It was a smart move, and that’s why I have the week starting on Friday this week instead of Saturday. This week was totally atypical, in that I spent the entire weekend studying for an insanely HUGE test that I had yesterday (more on that this coming week), and I was also gone at a conference for two days. Good things, but it totally messed up my training. It happens. Here’s how the week looked:

I still managed to move this week, and used walks for from stress relief as I studied for hours. I sure did miss my Wednesday bike ride this week too!

Now it’s your turn to share! How did this week in training look for you? 

March 13, 2014

Happy Thursday! This week has been an awesome time of productivity, relaxation, and fun with friends! Here’s what I’m thankful for at the moment:

I’m thankful for an extra hour of sunlight at the end of the day. I do miss the extra sunlight in the morning, but I LOVE that it’s light until 8 pm now! That means that I can really do whatever I’d like after work exercise-wise, as I have enough time before it gets dark!

I’m thankful for warmer weather and sunshine! It seems like we really missed a lot of the in between temperatures, going from the 20s to the 50s in the matter of 6 to 7 days. There of course will be days back in the 30s throughout the spring, but those days that are warm are so fantastic! (of course yesterday it dropped back down again and we had one of the worst snow storms of the season. awesome)

I’m thankful that my last two runs have been really solid. My 7.5 miler and 8.6 miler were both really awesome, and I smile every time I think about them!

I’m thankful that I finally finished my CEUs for my licensure renewal. My license needs to be renewed in a few weeks, and I need 40 continuing education units (hours) to do that. I finally got my last 5 that I needed in the past day, and it feels so good to be done with time to spare.

I’m thankful for my compression sleeves. I can’t even imagine training for races or recovering from long runs without them. I love love love them!

Now it’s your turn to share! What are you thankful for right now?

March 12, 2014

Back in April of 2012 I went to New York City for work (and yes- this post has been sitting in my “drafts” folder since I was in the airport on my way home), and while there I had the opportunity to go to Ellen’s Stardust Diner. I’ll come right out and say that the food, while good, was not by any means the best food that you’ll find in NYC. However- that’s not the reason to go.

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Ellen’s is a 1950’s style diner, is located right on Broadway, and features live performances! The waiters and waitresses sing and dance, both while people are eating, and occasionally even when they are serving the food!

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The guy in blue is dancing & singing in between tables

They sound fantastic! In fact, this diner hires people who are great singers with the hope that they will be able to use this as their springboard onto broadway itself. They get to work here to make money to pay the bills, and they carry around an extra container to donate money to help them pay for auditions, classes, etc… If I remember correctly, they said that in the previous year before I had been there either 9 or 11 of their waiters and waitresses had been cast in broadway musicals! Cool, right?

So like I said, the food there isn’t anything special, but the ambiance and entertainment is really fun! If you’re interested in broadway and musicals, and want to help others reach their dreams, then this is a place to check out!

For more on my trip to NYC, you can check out this post

Now it’s your turn to share! Have you been to any entertainment restaurants? 

 

March 11, 2014

One thing that I absolutely LOVE about barre class (beyond all the awesome benefits), is getting to listen to an hour of music that’s fun (especially the music in the barre section)! I tend to shazam music as I’m listening to the radio, and then add them to a note I have on my phone. When I sit down to actually make a playlist, I have to figure out not only what songs are appropriate for the time segment, but I also need to make sure that the beat is appropriate. The entire process does take some time, but it’s quite a bit of fun. I’ve had some fantastic responses to this current playlist, so I thought I’d share it with you!

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And here it is broken down by section:

Warm Up

Pilates Section

Planks Section

Cardio Section

Barre Section

Cool Down

This playlist has a lot of energy though, which is perfect for 6 am class! I find myself thinking of the songs throughout the day, and I feel like it gives me energy throughout the work day, despite my 4:50 wake up call! If you are interested in another playlist, you can click here for another barre playlist.

Now it’s your turn to share! What’s one of your favorite workout songs right now?

March 10, 2014

The weather here is ridiculous. The start of this half marathon training saw me doing my runs on the treadmill because the road was covered in ice and was too dangerous to run on. The last two weeks (6.2 miler and 7.5 miler) I’ve finally been able to run outside, but have been in lots of layers. I was at work this past Friday, and realized that it was going to be 49 degrees and sunny when I left work, so I decided to move my long run up a day. In the span of 3 weeks I went from having to run on a treadmill, to running outside in layers, to running outside in a tanktop and my running skirt- what crazy weather!

I was wondering how my long run would go, as I do my runs in the morning or early afternoon usually, and specifically fuel for that. I was hungry when I got home from work, but as I was about to run, I didn’t want to eat much. I ended up eating a handful of Swedish fish, which certainly isn’t excellent fuel, but it did the trick. I took a salt packet, warmed up, and left.

My first mile I went far too fast, I think because I was just so excited to be out in the sunshine. Last week I paced myself well, but this week I felt all over the place. I would be running way too fast, just enjoying the birds chirping and sun on my face, and I’d have to pull back and force myself to slow down.

Right before mile 4 I stopped by my car for some water and took this gel packet. I got it at a half marathon I did last year, and I was interested to try it out. I actually really enjoyed it!

photoRazz flavored clif shot gel and a salt packet

Right around mile 8 I started to feel these little flickers in my left calf muscle. I know these flickers well, as they tend to lead to full blown, bad muscle cramps. I’m so frustrated with these cramps, and I’m not sure what to do about it. It seems like even taking salt while running isn’t helping. I’m going to try to focus on stretching these muscles out even more, but this brought up some fears for race day. If this was race day, I would’ve had a few miles of bad cramps to get through. I’m frustrated.

Despite these little flickers, this run was really good. It was a full minute per mile faster paced than my 8.5 miler for my fall half marathon training, and I felt strong the entire run. Something that has been totally different this training cycle compared to my last few is that I’m not having IT band pain this cycle. I’m not exactly sure why. I started faithfully doing PT exercises and Pilates in January of 2013, so maybe I’ve just finally built up enough muscle that my IT bands are supported enough? No matter what the reason, I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing and hope it works.

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Here’s an interesting look at paces from my last 8 miler training runs:

It’s sort of interesting to look at the breakdown of that. This run was almost on par with my Oct 2012 run (the training cycle that led to my half marathon PR), so I’ll take that as a good sign.

When my grandpa died a few weeks ago, our family decided that money should get donated to the wounded warrior project. In that vain, I decided to run these 8.6 miles for my grandpa, using the charity miles app to donate money to the wounded warrior project.

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I followed the run up with some stretching, 3:15 of planks, ice bath, shower, and some delicious dark chocolate with sea salt. Yum!

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Overall I’m really happy with the run that I’ve had, but I’m getting a little worried about the muscle cramps issue, as I would really prefer to not deal with them during my half marathon.

Now it’s your turn to share! Any thoughts on my muscle cramp issue? What do you think about on long runs?

March 9, 2014

Both days that I had scheduled out for strength training this week got taken away. Monday I ended up having to work late, and didn’t have time to go to the gym after work. Friday I had also planned to lift, but then it was a gorgeous day outside (and saturday was supposed to rain), so I decided to move my long run from Saturday to Friday. It was a really fantastic choice. Here’s how the week looked:

I feel pretty good about the week, but do wish I had been able to lift one of these days. I did 13 minutes of planks this week, and I feel solid about that as well. Overall, this was a great week of training.

Now it’s your turn to share! How did your week of exercise go?

March 6, 2014

Happy Thursday once again! It’s been a pretty sunny week, and we’re finally bumping up to warmer weather. Of course, warmer weather= the 30’s. Oh how perceptions change after a nasty winter! Here’s what I’m thankful for right now:

I’m thankful for the fact that Kraft Cheese has cheese that is 0g lactose. I mentioned earlier this week that Kraft Cheese Sticks are a favorite snack of mine right now, and after finding out that I was lactose intolerant in 2007, I didn’t think I’d be able to eat them again. Many of Kraft’s cheeses have 0g of lactose, and I’m such a big fan of that fact!

I’m thankful for a really fantastic run this past weekend. Seriously. IT. WAS. AWESOME. I’m so glad for confidence-boosting runs like this that are just fantastic. Spending an hour and a half outside doing something I love is so refreshing and life-giving.

I’m thankful for some of the things I don’t expect. Yesterday I wrote a post about the “ironies” that have happened in life. I’m glad that life doesn’t always turn out exact like I planned, because I’d miss out on some pretty awesome things.

I’m thankful for a day off. The place I work at on Wednesday’s this month is on spring break, which means that I had the day off yesterday! Of course I spent a huge amount of time writing (both working on an article I’m writing & a presentation I’m giving next week), but also had some time for a bike ride, studying, and errands. Yay for free days off in the middle of the week!

I’m thankful for good presentations on Monday. I gave two presentations on Monday, and they both were great. I got the audience to laugh a bit, and they were interactive which is great. I also love seeing audience members take notes on important points. I’m thankful everything went smoothly and I had a great time!

I’m thankful for my sweet little cat. I’m not overwhelmingly a cat person, but my cat is really a combination of a baby and a dog, and I love him. It’s his 17th birthday today (OH MY GOSH- how could it have been 17 years already?!), and I’m so thankful for the love and joy that he has brought to my life.

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Now it’s your turn to share! What are you thankful for right now?

March 5, 2014

There are things that have occurred in life that are decidedly different from the way I intended them to be. Sometimes these moments of irony go poorly, but sometimes they result in great things for us. Here are some good “ironic” things in life that have occurred.

Sometimes I smile or laugh when I think of these things, as these things make my life so different than I had imagined. The thing is, these things that I was convinced I would “never” do bring so much joy and fun into my life, and I really enjoy them. So, I guess the saying is right: “never say never”.

Now it’s your turn to share! Is there something you thought you would “never” do that you are doing now? 

March 4, 2014

I eat breakfast at about 7 am, and my lunch hour doesn’t start until 1 pm, so most of the time I need a little something to get me through those 6 hours. I have a big drawer in my desk that holds all sorts of snacks and drink items so that I have a variety to choose from depending on my mood. I thought I’d give you a peek into my snack drawer:

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I have Luna Bars in my drawer for my “2nd breakfast” on Tuesday and Thursday mornings when I teach pilates and barre before work. Cheese sticks are obviously not kept in my snack drawer, but I keep a bag of them in our work refrigerator, and they make filling and delicious snacks in the middle of the morning or right after work if I’m heading to work out. All the way on the right are some flavorings for water. Sometimes I just need a break from straight water, and these are easy and convenient.

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I have a number of boxes of tea, as I usually end up drinking 3-4 cups of it a day (I reuse tea bags a few times). I also have apple cider mix to mix it up.

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I usually have some sort of peanut butter, both for a snack item and to put on apples or bananas during lunch if I want. Almonds and other nuts are constants in my drawer. Occasionally I have dried fruit or trail mix as well.

Now it’s your turn to share! What are some snack items that you keep at work?