3 Weeks!!

Yep. That's how long I have to wait until I leave for Orlando and the Princess Half Marathon. To say I am excited might be an understatement. Of course, I don't know if I am as excited a Jess who has already picked out her concert outfit and has made her packing list. Sometimes she is more Type A than I am (can you believe that?) but that's why I love her!!

She shared with me today a post by two girls that have done the Princess and I was going to share it here but I decided to come up with my own description. Mind you, this description is simply based on my expectations and the experience as insert in my mind.

People keep asking me when my next half is and I tell them Feb 24th in Orlando. Even though we are going to run the correct amount for a half, 13.1, I'm not sure it's fair to say I am running a half-marathon in Orlando. I say that because for me, this is more about the experience and running with one of my closest friends and celebrating our inner Princess. It's not about setting a PR or pacing myself or making sure I am taking in the correct amount of fluids every 15 minutes. It's about the fact that I am running!! And running along side Jess with our moms and Gwyn on the sidelines cheering their "little girls" on. It's about dressing in a costume even when you are 36 (or 35 for Jess) and everyone around you is dressed in costume too. Its about celebrating with thousands of women the joy that comes with sisterhood and being a woman! So yes, My next half is Feb 24th in Orlando but it really is so much more than that.

Just Call Me Jillian

So my co-workers have decided that I am the next Jillian. As in The Biggest Loser Jillian. And I think they think I would be offended by that. To me, that's a compliment. Here's why they say that. Many of them re working on their weight and one has even asked me to be her coach/motivator. So at lunch, if they are not eating healthy, I might make them feel bad/guilty about it. I do not try to make them feel bad. I am simply pointing out that they could make better choices. :) So tomorrow starts MK's 2013 Food Challenge. No, it's not quite like Food Network's Food Challenge. That usually involves unhealthy, albeit yummy, food. My challenge is an 8 week challenge for them to eat healthy. I even made a chart and bought smiley stickers! I haven't decided what the winner gets (other than healthier eating habits). I have eight weeks to figure it out.

Along those same lines, my friend Tania put an idea in my head a few weeks ago and I am doing research to see how I can accomplish it. She mentioned to me that the YMCA was doing a course to become a personal trainer and she thought I would be good at it. Well, I'm not taking the Y course but I am looking into options to become a personal trainer. It won't be a full time job and I'm not sure if I will do anything more with it beyond coming up with new workouts for myself. But I have had at least one co worker tell me she would pay me to be her trainer. So I guess it's fair to say I really am the next Jillian. Or the Jillian of the Upper Peninsula.

So the trip to Chicago was FANTASTIC!!!!! And the Grizz won in overtime which made it even better!!! But the absolute BEST part was we met Tony Allen's mom after the game. For those of you who are not Grizz fans, TA is one of the best defensive players in the league and coined the phrase "All heart, grit and grind" which is the Grizz motto. It was so cool to meet her and talk to her.

My brother was here this weekend. We had a great, fairly low key time. I took him snowshoeing for his first time because now that I had been one time, I was a pro!!! We had a blast and I am pretty sure I am going to get my own pair. What a workout!!!

One month from today is the Princess Half Marathon and the P!nk concert!!! Super excited for the trip and to see Jess, her mom, G and my mom!! Going to be a great trip.

I was trying to think of a good fun fact for this blog but I am pooped and still have to put laundry away. So I hope dear reader(s), you have a great week!!

Small Town Woes

I refuse to let the bad people win!!! That is my mantra tonight. Plus in less than 48 hours I will be in Chicago with one of my best friends having a FANTASTIC time and getting to see my boys play!!! I am so stinking excited!!

So I was going to post during the bowls games a smart ass comment (I know you are shocked) about wanting Kansas State to beat Oregon. It's a bit late but I am posting it now. And the ONLY reason I am posting it was to prove a point )again, I know you are shocked). Here's why...

Ever since I started this blog 9 months ago, my only sibling has NOT ONCE read it. And on NYE, I made a comment (ok maybe a drunken comment and maybe more than once) to his friends about posting on my blog. They all thought that the fact that I blog was really cool and wanted to know the website so they could read it. Well of course I took that opportunity (okay again more than once) to let them know that my own brother (my only brother) has never read my blog. Of course he wanted to say that he is SOOOO busy and I never game him the website (PLEASE) and blah blah blah.

So, dear reader(s), THAT is why I am making the comment, all be it late, about wanting K-State to win. Simply to see if he is even reading my blog now. My bet is he isn't.

Get Your Hotdogs!!

Funniest thing I have seen all week...Tania hocking hot dogs, popcorn and chips at the high school basketball game. Now I'm not talking about normal people simply asking kids and adults what they would like. Nope. Not here.

Scenario One:

A young man about 16 approaches the concession table trying to decide what to get. I simply ask "What can I get you?" As he considers his options of candy, popcorn or nachos, enter the crazy lady saying (I shan't use the word yelling) "you know you want popcorn. Don't you want popcorn. Here buy some popcorn." He opted not to buy popcorn.

Scenario Two:

Popcorn has been sold. Young girl of maybe 12 or 13 approaches the table and the same crazy lady says "look at this chips. Don't you want some chips? They are going to expire soon." Smart girl...she said no. But only after looking terrorized and me convincing her she really didn't need to buy the chips.

Scenario Three:

Someone (surprisingly NOT the crazy lady) apparently cooked more hot dogs than necessary for a Thursday night basketball game. So what does the crazy lady do??? She starts carrying them around the cafeteria where the concession table is and where the Pep Band is hanging out selling them for 75 cents. Exit yours truly because I just couldn't take it anymore. I return home and get a text from the crazy lady "you missed it! I went into the stands selling hot dogs and the turkey sandwiches and sold them all!!!"

Yes, folks. She does not get out much. And she wonders why her daughter calls her a dork!

New Year, Same MK

See, this is why I posted the Happy New Year post early. I knew I would be late getting around to saying Happy New Year. Who knows me better than me????

New Years Eve was a Campbell Kids classic night. There are parts that are not to be shared with folks but pics galore so you can make up your own story. We had every intention of going home and being asleep by 1am since we had a 5K at 10 am the next morning. We all know what they say about the best intentions right?? Well, SOMEONE (not me) said in the cab on the way home that we should go back to the casino (we had already been there once that night) and I was just drunk enough that it sounded like a great idea! Fast forward to 4am, which was about the time I crawled in to bed. BUT...guess who set a new 5K PR on 4 1/2 hours of sleep?? Now mind you, I won't do that all the time but I was quite impressed with myself.

My big adventure this past week, though, was my very first time on snowshoes. And it wasn't just any old snowshoeing experience. It was a 5K Arctic Color Blast dash. Ifnyounare not familiar with those, you get a white shirt and at every kilometer, they throw colored powder on you. It was GREAT!! And I only fell once (and I'm pretty sure it was Tania's fault.)

Yesterday I started the next round of Best Body Bootcamp. I am hoping to see better results this time since I'm not doing too much traveling and can focus more. I am also doing Yoga when I can. My gym doesn't offer classes but has Video On Demand classes and a nice room so it works. I forgot how much I used to enjoy yoga. So I was at the gym last night right after work. I had to do that so I would be done in time for the big game ROLL TIDE ROLL!!! So I had packed my gym bag the night before and when I got to the gym to change clothes I noticed I was missing a rather important garment. Yep. Sports bra. So I got to do my whole workout in a black regular bra. Yeah. That didn't look ridiculous at all. Good thing I wasn't schedule to run.

46 days til Disney!!! Super excited to see everyone and to run the race and see P!nk in concert. This may be the best girls weekend yet!!!

Happy New Year!

Ok I am a few days early but I may not remember to post Tuesday. Speaking of not remembering things, I had a great title for this post last night....okay there may have been alcohol involved so that may be why I don't remember it. Anyhoo...we survived the trip back to Chicago from California after alight at a hotel/casino in Reno. Turns out, my brother and I discovered a new favorite card game: Let It Ride. Yeah it's a version of Poker but way more fun. If you have never played it (we hadn't), it's too complex to type but just trust me. We like it so much we are heading to the casino after work tomorrow for a little New Years Eve card play before we head o a party.

Oh and I apparently am learning to sew. Mom and I worked on my Princess Merida costume last week (see pic below). I think it looks a little Star Trek-ish but Jess, Julia and Tania all said it looked good so we shall see. I may modify the sleeve caps a bit but I am going to try it on with my curly hair and tiara first.

Here's today's trivia lesson:

Chicago is most commonly referred to as The Windy City but it is also known as The Second City. History says it is because for a long time it was second in population to New York. However, most Chicagoans call it the Second City because the city was rebuilt after the great Chicago fire.

The cutie in the pic with me is Shaine, my bro's roommate.

Holy Snow Storm Batman!!

Yes, Virginia. It snows in California. For those of you who are not familiar with where the Campbell parents live, picture Southern California and then picture the exact opposite. Northern California looks pretty much like the Upper Peninsula. And the storm that hit late Thursday night into Friday was pretty much a UP storm, too. So what that translated to was Rob and MK landing in Reno (which is where we always fly into Reno because McArthur, California population 1000 does NOT have an airport) and finding out the 'rents were snowed in and we needed to either stay in Reno until the storm cleared (which was to predicted to clear until Sunday) or rent a car and drive SLOOOOOOOOOOWLY up the mountains. Well, we did both. We hung out in Reno at a casino for about an hour or so and then decided we should just try to go. Now mind you, the car that Pops had reserved for us was a Chevy Malibu. This doesn't exactly scream "Snow Car". Bro went rounds with the be-atch at the rental car company about whether we were allowed to put chains on the car. Yeah...guess who won that fight.

Anywhoo...so we start the drive. Normally it's only three hours. The 1.5 hour drive from Reno to Susanville, CA went off without a hitch. It was a wee bit windy (read three semi trucks blown over on their sides.) Unfortunately, in that part of the world there is no radio station to entertain us. Lucky for us, I have a Mad Libs app on my ipad so we had a grand time. There may have been some stories that I can't share on this forum as they may not be appropriate for certain readers. Just know that we were fully entertaining ourselves. Once we rolled into Susanville, we hit the local tire store and got chains. Heading up the mountain, we quickly realized the chains were needed. Now, dear reader(s), what is important for you to know is that we are two city kids who have never put chains on tires before. I would just like to state for the record that I wanted to put the chains on the front tires because I was pretty sure the car was front wheel drive. After a minor disagreement, we ended up putting them on the back tires. As an aside, when Pops and I took the car to the local shop today to have it checked out, the mechanic told me that the chains should have been on the front and they didn't do any good on the back.

45 minutes later, we got the chains on and were on our way at a speedy 25 mph. I won't bore you with the details of the next 5 hours (that's how long it took us to go about 100 miles). Needless to say, we arrived at my folks place about 9pm and a discussion with Pops ensued about not being cheap next time and springing for the 4x4 rental car.

Now that we are here, I will say that the snow (which continues off and on) is beautiful and it's the first time I've seen this much snow here.

During a break in the snow today, I managed to get in a run. During my run, I found a bird that had gotten his little wing stuck on a barbed wire fence and he was flapping his good wing like crazy. I was afraid he was going to do more damage so I went to help. He let me hold him in one hand while I gently pulled his other wing off the barb. I was worried he wasn't going to be ale to fly but I set him down on the snow and he flew to the nearest tree. So I am hoping his is okay and found his family/friends and told them about the nice redhead that saved him. Yes, I have a soft spot for animals.

I've included some pics of the past 24 hours. Enjoy!!