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Back Pain, Life

Life is Hard – Working on a Positive Attitude

Sometimes life is hard.

Sometimes a little therapy is needed to get the negative thoughts out and start working towards a positive attitude. It’s something that I struggle with. So here’s what going on…

I feel tired all the time. I don’t know exactly what it is, but I think a lot of it comes with where I am in my life right now. Brady is currently on his last internship which ends next week while spending any free time studying for his boards which is also next week. In the 2 years we’ve been married, we’ve lived in 4 different homes, currently with my in-laws which is the first time we haven’t been living on our own. We’re probably moving (again) within a month after his graduation which is something to look forward to and dread at the same time.

I’m in a temporary job which is it’s own kind of draining.

Meanwhile, my dad’s gearing up to sell our family home of 14 years, which is emotionally difficult because there are many memories there. It’s the only home I’ve known since moving to the US and the last place where mom lived so this has been hard.

I’m pretty much always in some level of constant pain because of my back. My sleep is the most affected by this because I can never get comfortable.

I think I’ve been dealing with another small bout of depression lately, which makes living a lot more tiring and training a lot harder. It’s probably due to a combination of the aforementioned things but it makes it hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Live Love Life

I’m trying to have a brighter outlook on life so here are some POSITIVE things going on in my life…

July 12, 2016 by Meagan Leanne

Exercise, Life, Running, Swimming, Weight loss

Morning vs. Nighttime Running

Hello! Short week is almost done! It’s been taking me half the day to wake up because I’m working again this week and getting dropped off by my husband just before 7 am so that he can make it to work on time. I am not a morning person. I used to be. I was the person at sleepovers who would wake up by at least 7:30 no matter the bedtime the night before. Nowadays, getting up around 6 is not fun. My body is rebelling against this new schedule. Sigh.

So today was my first run in about a week and a half because of the pains I’ve been dealing with in my left leg. It went better than I had expected. I didn’t push to go too far because I’m not sure where my knee is at, but we ran about 1.25 miles and walked another .6 in horrible humidity. It didn’t feel like Florida or anything but seeing as how we ran at 8:45 pm after the sun had set, it was pretty bad. My average pace for the running portion was like 12:02 min/mi BUT that included 2 minutes of walking so according to my eyeing of the pace chart, it was closer to 10:30 min/mi which is pretty decent for me. It was so hot that when we came back that I was drenched in sweat. Excuse me, I meant glistening. My sister claims she never sweats and she only “glistens”. Whatever. I read an interesting article in one of my magazines about working out in the morning VS at night and I’m going to continue that discussion below.

Tuesday was swim day. Lately I feel like it’s taking me much longer to warm up and fall into my swimming rhythm. I think part of it is that I’m (unintentionally) starting out at my fastest swim pace which is kind of weird because the first 100m feels like I’m swimming through molasses. It takes me around 300-500m to fall into a rhythm where it doesn’t feel like I’m fully out of breath every 50m that I swim. I’m not 100% sure what to do about this when I comes to the race because I don’t really want to wait until halfway through my swim to get it together. Is this why people run around a bit before they start? That’s the only thing I can think of to do at this point that might help. If that doesn’t work then I’ll have to do some more research into this. I ended up a little short of my planned distance by swimming only 900m because one of my earplugs broke its seal and it didn’t feel comfortable. My average pace, not including stops, was 2:02/100m.

Swimming was followed by a summer corn chowder bread bowl at Panera which is one of my favorite soups. I haven’t gone for a bread bowl in so long because it’s too much food but it’s rough because I really like sourdough, especially with this soup. I couldn’t eat it all but it was delish.

July 7, 2016 by meaganleanne

Life, Swimming, Training

Learning How To Swim: She’s finally had a swimming breakthrough!

Yesterday was a long but definitely fun-filled day. I spent most of the day hanging out with and catching up with one of my friends from college. I met Kelli my first week at Andrews University because she was my RA on the first floor freshman hall. Even though I moved to the 3rd floor on the opposite side of the building for my sophomore year, I got lucky and she was my RA that year as well! Over those 2 years we got to know each other pretty well and she was an amazing support while I was going through my mom’s illness and then her passing during the fall of my sophomore year. It’s been 2 years since the last time I saw her, and so when I found out that she was coming to town, I was grateful that I’ve been off work for a couple weeks so we could spend some time together. I think we ended up up chatting non-stop for almost 6 hours yesterday! We started by heading up to Columbia for brunch at Cafe Mezcla which, if you live in the area, is amazingly delicious! I think the service is a bit slow, but the food is worth it. I’ve been there a few times and I think I’ve always gotten the same thing because it’s just that good!

Cafe Mezcla Sunny days crepe and Nutella Freeze

I got a nutella freeze and a crepe that I think was called “Sunny Days”. It was a crepe filled with eggs, cheese, fresh baby spinach and tomatoes, and aioli. I don’t think I could choose which one was better because my taste buds were exploding with happiness from the deliciousness they were being bathed in. I’m generally trying to avoid dairy at the moment but I haven’t come here in a long time so this was too good to pass up!

June 29, 2016 by meaganleanne

Life, Vegetarian

Special Anniversaries

So after enjoying a few days of pretty nice weather, it feels like winter outside again. As a person who loves being warm, this makes me very sad. I’m also sad when it’s an overcast and dreary day… which led me to this thought today: Would I rather it be cold and sunny or warm and rainy?

Give me a few minutes to think about that one.

Yesterday was a special day for me and the hubby. We were celebrating 6 years of dating. 6 y.e.a.r.s. It’s kind of crazy to think about how much time has passed and all the things we’ve been through together since that time and I’m just so happy and blessed to have him in my life. I can’t imagine my life without him and I don’t want to. We celebrated our week of healthy eating by doing the opposite and stuffing ourselves at The Cheesecake Factory.

April 5, 2016 by Meagan Leanne

Life

Apple Picking at Larriland Farm

It’s hard to believe it’s already the middle of October! Time is flying by and the days are quickly getting shorter. When I leave work next week, I’ll be driving home after sunset after having spent all daylight hours inside… I suppose I’ll have to spend my lunch breaks outside.

The past 2 weeks I’ve been in between assignments at work so I’ve been at home attempting to be productive…

Last Friday, Brady and I headed out to Larriland Farm to pick some apples and other wonderful fall pickings.

I honestly have no idea what face this is supposed to be… but look at those beautiful apples matching my shirt!

I wanted to pick more spinach… but somebody wasn’t being very helpful.

He was more helpful with the broccoli…

The beautiful pumpkin colors and the storm that ended up chasing us all the way home.

Centennial Park, Ellicott City, Maryland

Saturday morning I woke up with a decent amount of pain in my back that has continued to plague me all week but that didn’t keep us from taking a slow afternoon walk around Centennial Lake. This was the first time I had been back since the triathlon so it was kind of fun reliving some of the memories.

Trader Joe’s is amazing and you really need to try these cookies–> they pair really well with apple cider.

Sunday afternoon we took a long walk around the neighborhood and critiqued houses and what we’d like to have in a future home. Then we came home and I was subjected to a few hours of the Cowboys/Patriots game…

So I snuggled with Shadow to pass the time.

Tuesday morning I got called in to be a sub for the first time! I taught middle school English and reading classes and felt a lot older than I really am for a few hours. The kids were pretty chatty, but it was a fun experience and I’m looking forward to the next time!

I spent a couple hours at the library on Wednesday evening. I haven’t been there in forever and I ended up checking out a whole basket full of stuff. The guy who checked out my books for me gave me funny looks. Brady said I can go on a shopping spree if I can finish all the books before they’re due. He underestimates my love for reading.

I came across this little piece of wisdom while reading my second book….

Overall it’s been an enjoyable week and I’m really looking forward to spending this weekend with both of my siblings who are coming to stay with us! 🙂

October 16, 2015 by meaganleanne

Life, Vacation

5 Things I Did This Summer

Summer is coming to a close… boohoo. I don’t mind autumn too much because it has some of the best seasonal foods as well as pretty trees and such BUT it means that the weather is getting colder and soon we’ll have “naked” trees everywhere. I dislike naked trees and I hate being cold.

To get me through the horrible winter months, I wrote this “5 Things I Did This Summer” list so I could look back on the good times and feel a little warmer inside.

1. College Graduation

I suppose this was technically in the spring, but it started off my summer well. It may have taken 5 years to get a 4-year degree, but I finally made it!

2. Moved from Michigan to Maryland

Braden just entered his 3rd and final year of PT school and he’s starting his clinical internships this fall. We were lucky that he was able to get placements for all 4 internships in Maryland near our families. However, this means we had to move states and pack up our first little nest together. Luckily we had some kind family members living nearby to help us out or else we’d probably still be trying to move.

3. Anniversary Vacation

We wanted to do something special to celebrate our first anniversary so we spent 2 nights and 3 days at the Atlantis Inn in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. This is my favorite beach spot “near” us so we had a lot of fun riding our bikes through Cape Henlopen State Park, eating ice cream, playing mini-golf at Shell We Golf, and just relaxing on the beach.

4. Iron Girl Columbia Triathlon

I spent the majority of my summer preparing for this event and it is probably the biggest highlight of my summer because I got to see all my hard work pay off. You can read about this one here.

5. Packed and sent my sister off to college

What a little grown-up she’s become. It’s especially hard to see her go because I’ve just moved back home after being away for 5 years. Well now she’s the one heading off to another state to become a smarter human being. Bye Nani :'(

I know I’m going to blink and it will be summer again soon, but for right now, it’s just really hard to say goodbye!

August 31, 2015 by meaganleanne

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