Mike and Liz Picture A Day

Posted on January 20, 2013 by thefasteryoupedal

A year ago Mike and I decided to do a “picture a day” blog and we were pretty successful from January to April. Then Blogger had to make things difficult on my life and change so I had no idea how to post pictures (I still don’t, but thank goodness for an IPAD with an app that I can semi-figure out).

Anyway, we both have been a little sad about not doing that blog or the old blog from before we got married up until last year (AGAIN…thanks to Blogger. Can you tell I am bitter?). So I am working on it! I was able to get the Mike and Liz Picture A Day blog up again, so here we go again! It’s not centered, but it does the job!

If you are interested….here is the link:

http://mikelizpictureaday.blogspot.com/

I’m excited to do this pre-“baby girl” so we can take pictures leading up to the day. I know that it will be harder once she is around, but it’s worth a try!

In Your Own Words

Posted on January 19, 2013 by thefasteryoupedal

I found this journal entry in my 2012 planner. I usually go through each past years calendar to see if I am missing any upcoming races or events from the previous year that I want to do. I remember writing this down as a New Year’s resolution and wanted to share it. Fill it out and post it to my comments if you get a chance:

Best beauty trick: staying active and exercising

Celebrity I admire: Jessica Biel (she is athletic looking!)

Instantly feel better: When I get a hug!

The one food I will never give up: Pizza.

My biggest accomplishment: 11 years of teaching.

I always wanted to learn: to speak fluent French.

My favorite body part: Smile.

My pet peeve: When people smack their gum.

Hidden talent: I can organize anything like a mad man!

Best mistake: Not getting married until I was 29.

First thing I do when I wake up: Pick out my outfit for the day.

2013 Goals

Posted on January 3, 2013 by thefasteryoupedal

I know I have shown this before but for the ALMOST four years we have been married I have found something we actually stay pretty consistent on. It’s kind of a rip off of Oprah’s Vision board, but instead of pictures we just put exactly what goals we want to do.

Watching Mike train for triathlons has been awesome. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous at all, but I would say that being pregnant is just as awesome. (Let me just admit that it has taken the last two weeks for me to realize how AWESOME it is to grow a baby. I seriously was thinking nothing of it until you actually start feeling the baby. Anyway!)

I LOVE how I can look ahead and mentally prepare myself for things to come and it gets me so excited! Most of our goals are physical this year, but we mingled the goals with spiritual, educational, family, financial, and other types of goals too. At the end of the year, we check off the ones we did and put it on our “newsletter” and include all of the things we did that year with it. It’s pretty sweet to reminisce.

Pinterest C-R-A-Z-Y!

Posted on November 18, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

Mike and I switched phones so I have a Bionic now, which is a lot faster than my Droid X. Now that its faster, I like to sit on Pinterest and pin away at all hours of the day (not to mention the fact that I am soaking in all the free time that I get because come April 2013, my free time will be NONEXISTENT).

Anyway! I have come to understand the power and addiction of Pinterest. The following pictures don’t even show HALF of what I have been trying to do around the house, but they will soon come to pass.

1. LAUNDRY ROOM BASKETS

On an organization website, they mentioned getting these really cheap fabric baskets from Wal-Mart and they have done wonders for my CRAZY laundry room.

2. SPRAY PAINT LETTERS

These run about eight bucks at Joann’s and I love how cute it makes my hallway look. I also painted the words RIDE for Mike on his den wall and it looks pretty sweet.

3. FABRIC COVERED CANVASES

These are going in the baby’s room with the “nature” theme I am going with. I love this fabric that I got from IKEA and I stapled them to a canvas and used them as the centerpiece for that side of the room.

4. MAGNETIC BOARD

We did this craft for an enrichment night at church. It’s made of a metal board from Lowe’s and then hot glued with fabric from Joann’s. I post the meals for the week on here.

Around The House

Posted on October 20, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

Since I haven’t been racing lately, I’ve been working a lot around the house on the weekends trying to get everything fixed or cleaned up. During our busy bike season, things just get thrown every where and I am one that needs a clean house!

My laundry room has always been so plain. This week I am in the process of installing baskets for all of my cleaning supplies, but until I get a picture, I wanted to show you my wall decorations I put in there. Two reasons why I am embarrassed of this:

1. NO ONE goes in the laundry room, so why do I bother?

2. I have always been one to be against the “stickers on a wall” decorations, but I have to admit, I kind of like it.

Second, is organization. Our kitchen counter looks like a doctor’s office with all of Mike’s vitamins, supplements, gels, and whatever he needs for riding. I finally put this in. I tried to get one to fit in our kitchen cabinet, but we have too much stuff.

When I was in Vegas, my mom gave me the idea of freezing tomatoes for when I make my homemade pizzas. I am making them at least once or twice a week and I HATE tomatoes. She says that when you freeze them and add just a little to it that you don’t even taste it!

When I was in Vegas I also made a craft using black and white paper to hold my envelopes in the kitchen. I found this cute box at Wal Mart for two dollars and thought I would use it to put our extra biking supplies in.

Fall is here! I am so excited that I can put out my pumpkin and get out the fall candles. I love the smell of pumpkin in the air.

So, not much to write in the ways of biking and running, but maybe it will get you motivated to organize and clean the house!

Deep Cleaning During Labor Day Week

Posted on September 9, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

I made it a goal as soon as the summer ends, that I would blog on here once a week. I have failed miserably! So I am going to catch up on this lazy, rainy Sunday and hopefully get everything posted on here and never get behind!

Our house has not been deep cleaned since the beginning of summer and its amazing how dirty and dusty things get in this New Mexico desert. Also, the fact that we had to strip-search the house last week to try and find our keys made me realize how BAD our house needed cleaning. Some parts have never seen a vacuum or broom since I moved in four years ago!

This section behind our tv stand has been neglected since day one and I know for a fact Mike did not vacuum behind it when he was a bachelor. Word to the wise: use push pins to hold the wires up while you vacuum to save all the hassle of NOT running over the cords. It saved so much time.

I also went to Target and bought a TV stand for Mike’s den upstairs.

This is what it looked life before. So many pieces! It took a whole day because I kept putting things on backwards. And here is my creation!

If you need really cute lamps, Target has a plethora of them. Since our theme is black and oak, I found this cute lamp for about 15 bucks.

And to celebrate the cleanliness, we went to Keva Juice for some frozen yogurt.

Can you guess which one is Mike’s?

Lazy Saturday.

Posted on August 5, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

Today felt like the laziest day on record this summer. This last week I have felt like I have done nothing but sit online all day. I don’t feel guilty at all because starting Tuesday my life will be nonstop busy until the end of May. I will be wishing for moments like these!

I bought a couple of necklaces for back to school and I was thinking how glad I was that I made a holder. I never wore jewelry before because all of my necklaces would get stuck together.

Easiest holder ever. I used a bulletin board, black fabric, and a stapler.

I bought this fabric at the IKEA in Tempe for the same room I have this holder. I want to make curtains out of it, but need to bust out with my sewing machine.

Thankfully, this is a check I can put on my “vision board”. I think Mike has more done on his side of the board than I do.

This next little goal is scary considering I only have five months left. Thankfully, the Tour De Safford is coming up in October and then I can choose a local one to finish off the year. Better get running!!

Today my plan was to go ride, then it was going to the gym, and then it ended up with a home cardio session. Way to make a decision Liz! To make it an hour-long, I improvised and used a few workouts together.

I started with this bad boy.

And then did my Workout #4, which was awesome (I will post soon!)….and then finished off with some of this!

I seriously could not stop laughing while I was doing this, at the fact that I look like a total dork when I dance. It reminded me of the days my friend Felicia and I took a hip hop class with a guy named “Al Money”. He would get a little impatient with me because I couldn’t get the steps. It was awesome!

P.S. A group of friends of mine played mud volleyball today. I’m a little sad I wasn’t part of things, but remind me to get a team together next year!! It sounds like so much fun.

Planning Out My Life

Posted on August 1, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

I made these for my girls I visit at church courtesy of Pinterest (I am on a roll!). Mike was tempted to eat them but explained to me he couldn’t “accidentally” take one because it would leave a hole in the styrofoam. So they are husband-stealing proof.

I am trying to plan out the rest of my year so I have a lot to look forward to. Yes, when school starts, I get a little dramatic and feel like my life is going to end. To get me through each work day, I must have something on my mind. In the past, mountain bike races have been a really good help for me, but since we aren’t racing as much this year, we are planning other things too.

Here is what I have to look forward to in the month of August:

1. Camping in Silver City with Barney

2. Signal Peak Mountain Bike Race

3. The Color Run in Albuquerque (www.thecolorrun.com/albuquerque )

4. Road Trip to California!

So yes, I have to keep telling myself that my life will not end and I have some really fun stuff coming up! Happy August!

P.S. Today was the cycling time trial with the Olympics and I have found my new hero!! Kristen Armstrong. She took time off in cycling to have a family and came back with a vengeance today. Did I mention she also broker her collarbone in May? And still pulled it off? Love her!

Photo is courtesy of About.com

7 Day Carb Cycle

Posted on July 10, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

I really love the show Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition. It is so inspiring to see the people who are extremely overweight turn their lives around to make things healthier. I think Chris Powell is an excellent trainer and would love to have a job like that one day (after I get my health regimen in order).

I was searching on Amazon for nutrition books and found “The 7 Day Carb Cycle” by Chris Powell. I immediately downloaded and started reading it to give it a try. I only have about four more weeks until I am back at work, so I thought I would try it out and get into a healthy routine before then.

Yesterday was a Low Carb day and the process goes like this:

Sunday: Rest

Monday: Low Carb

Tuesday: High Carb

Wednesday: Low Carb

Thursday: High Carb

Friday: Low Carb

Saturday: High Carb

A high carb day doesn’t mean you eat as many cookies as possible. It’s more healthy carbs alongside protein. Fruits are a really good idea for those days. On the low carb day, it is mainly protein and veggies the whole day. After our 4th of July, I was going through withdrawal on sugar yesterday.

Most people on the reviews said that they lost two pounds the first week. It received four out of five stars on Amazon, so I figure I’ll be a guinea pig and try it out. I’ll keep you posted!

It helps if you cut up your veggies and fruits and leave them accessible in the fridge.

Barney is moping around the house today because of all the rain. Any time we attempt to walk outside, he gets so excited. I can understand since I get a little ancy too when it comes to rainy days. I was a little disappointed yesterday on my attempt to road ride and this beauty of a storm paid a visit.

P.S. Lists are so awesome. Then you don’t have to try to remember everything. When I spoke in church on Sunday, I was talking about how I write lists all the time. A lot of girls came up to me afterwards talking about their lists and their husbands told me that their wives are obsessed with them. Ha ha. Must be a girl thing.

Question: Are you a list person? If so, what are some ideas on where to keep your lists?

Three A Day Workout

Posted on June 12, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

WORKOUTS

I actually was pretty impressed with myself for working out three times today. Working out in my terms means doing some kind of physical activity longer than 30 minutes. Thankfully on Mondays and Wednesdays, there are a group of girls who like to play volleyball at my local church, so I was able to go. Then I was headed over to the gym for some elliptical and weights. It feels good to start getting my arms back. I can’t wait til I can get my Les Mill’s Body Pump DVD/set. When I got home, my husband wanted to go for a road ride, so we did some laps on a coarse called the “Ocho” in this really nice golfing community on our side of town. It’s a three-mile loop that makes a figure eight. It’s about six minutes of pure climbing, and then the rest is all downhill. My goal tonight was four laps, and I did it!

ORGANIZATION

So one of my areas of focus this summer for my “Summer of Fitness” was to organize away the house. Since I am on a budget this week and can’t go too crazy buying bookshelves and stands (which I would go crazy at Target doing), I decided to go through the “easy and cheap” things that need to be organized.

I have always had my clothes color coded from dark to light. Its nice so when you walk in the closet, and say that you are in the mood to wear red, then you know where all your red shirts are. The hubby’s side of the closet had random shirts thrown in there. Every once in a while I will hear him say “I haven’t seen this shirt in a while.”, because of how disorganized it is. I decided to help him out and color coordinate his side of the closet too.

I also found this organizer at Wal-Mart for $4.95, which you pretty much hang from your door. It has a bunch of hooks and you put all your purses on it. Most of my purses are piled in a corner in my closet, so its nice to have a visual on it. Now to just get more purses to fill it. 🙂

Here is the picture of the “vision board” I was telling you about. Mike and I have done it the last three years on New Years when we make all of our resolutions. One side is dedicated to my goals, the other side for him, and then anything we both want to do I put in the middle. This last year I put a list of all the goals we accomplished in a “newsletter” and then posted it up there. We usually put biking goals, education goals, a lot of physical goals, and other stuff. I try to make them really easy, like “take a class” so that way I can take a simple sewing class to accomplish that or a college course towards my nursing degree. Something like that.

Question: What are some organizing things you do around the house that are inexpensive?