Feeding My Competitive Soul: Inspired to be positive

Beautiful eyes, beautiful smile
Knowing the day that lies ahead
Is full
And happy
And fine.
Being in the sunshine, smiling, laughing
Smelling the freshness of the trees, the grass,
The flowers.
Sharing the day with people
Who care. Or not.
Because being alone is just fine too.
Reminiscing
Complimenting
Love, laughter, warmth.
Do you want more? Who doesn’t?
Is it worth the pain?
Love yourself. It will
Love you back.

After reading Caitlin's blog with more Operation Beautiful talk and then moving over to Polly’s for Thankful Thursday, (and Jenna’s too) I’m feeling so awesome about life right now. Because honestly, it can be worse. Example: On my way to work this morning I got stuck in a train car next to a man who obviously had some problems. His clothes were disheveled and he WREAKED of urine. He kept looking around like he knew he smelled but there was nothing he could do about it.
After I got off the train and walked to my office at Harvard Square, I walked by the same four panhandlers, shaking their cups. “Spare some change?”
All within a 20 minute time frame I saw how much worse life could be. One: I have a job. It’s not the most ideal job, it’s not what I went to school for, but it’s a job. After being laid off twice in 4 months, this is something I’m extremely thankful for. And since Dennis is still looking with no luck, I’m especially thankful to have something.
Two: I live in a beautiful apartment, I have two awesome cats that are my babies, I have a wonderful family and friends that love and support me, and I have Dennis. Not to be all sappy, but we’ve been through A LOT…we’re a normal couple; we drive each other crazy and argue over stupid things, but we have each other no matter what. Let’s put it this way: he’s alive and doing well whereas six to seven months ago, this was not the case. End of story.
There are so many things in my life that I am thankful for…too many to list. I’d bore you. But one last one that I think is worth mentioning is YOU. The blog world. The writers and readers of the blogs that I have become so faithful to…they have changed my life. The fact that there are so many of you who are constantly reminding me of how much I have and how beautiful I am…(how beautiful we ALL are) makes me feel so lucky. You inspire me to think positive, love myself, and also to push myself to do things like run the 15K next month (it’s coming quick!!) and put myself out there on my own blog…and those who read…if I can pass along the same positivity and inspiration that I get from the blogs I follow, even if it’s just ONE reader, it’s so worth it.

OK moving on…

I was able to get up and run this morning for about 40 minutes. (That is another thing to be thankful for.) I ran a lot better this morning—my pace was about 20 seconds faster than yesterday’s and I felt great. I had regular oats this morning since it had been a while (I’ve been eating overnight oats a lot)
I have to admit-I’m not really that big of a fan of the Almond Breeze Unsweetened. I will try the sweetened kind but I don’t think I can finish this container. It ruined my oats.

What I used:

1/2 cup oats
1 cup Almond Breeze
1 banana, sliced
1 big tsp of PB

I couldn’t eat the whole thing because I didn’t really like the Almond milk, and also, because I was running late. I flew out of my house at 7:48 to try to catch my 7:53 train. It’s about a five minute walk. However, as I was coming around the corner two blocks away from the stop, I saw it pull up. I started sprinting—like full fledge sprint—screaming “NOOOO!! DON’T LEAVE!!!!” Apparently I was screaming pretty loud but since I had my headphones on I didn’t realize it….and after ALLLL that---I missed the damn train. It was just starting to pull away as I got there. So, with my headphones on I dropped the F bomb (really loud…ooppss) and ran two more blocks to catch the bus since I missed the train.
Picture it. I’m SPRINTING….dressed in my work clothes, carrying my shoulder bag….and when I got on the bus I was DRIPPING. I must have looked like such a freak…dripping…seriously.

The first thing I did when I got to work was walked over to Starbucks and got myself a Soy Misto. I love these things.

I ate lunch at around noon. I started with an apple at 11 and then I had this:

This was rockin! It was

One cup (serving size) TJ’s sprouted wheat pasta
One whole tomato
Goat cheese (about one ounce)
And what really made this dish rock…cooked arugula

I went to the Farmer’s Market at Harvard Square on Tuesday and bought a bag of fresh, organic arugula. I decided to cook it up like spinach with some olive oil and garlic. It was BANGIN! And it added so much to this dish!!

After running this morning, sprinting to the bus, and walking about two miles around campus, I knew it was going to catch up to me. I had a ridiculous craving for pretzels. I met up with a client at 2:30 and I swear to you I said, “This might sound like a stupid question but is there a vending machine around here or something where I can get some pretzels? Because I’m REALLY craving some.” She laughed and said, “That is SO not a stupid question!” and pointed me to a stash of FREE pretzels! I grabbed a handful and that was all I needed.

I got home around 4:30 and I was starving. Of course neither of us wanted to cook … and we were having company over at 6:30, so we ordered a pizza. I had a salad and 2 slices of cheese.