My Love and Hate for Autumn

I used to only love Autumn but now i am seeing the dark side, and i mean literally the dark side.

I woke up at 5:40 to get my butt out the door to run at 6am and it was still dark out, like fully dark.

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This is not a picture of where i live but you get the gist.

While running in the cool dark would be amazing, doing it alone, especailly as a female is scary. If i had someone to run with it would be awesome and do able, i would just bring a light but alone i feel like i am more likely to get run over or kidnapped or murdered.

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So i went back to sleep and brought my workout clothes to go for a run at work because on the plus side of Autumn the day will be cool enough for me to run at lunch.

Now that we have gotten the bad part of Autumn and Winter for that matter out of the way, here are some of my favorites.

pumpkin-spice-everything

Yep, i am a pumpkin spice latte junkie!

ladies-ethical-clothes-for-autumn

The great clothes and accesories.

What are some of your favorite and least favorite things about Autumn?

Weekend Road trip!

Starbucks is a must

A little stop at a wildlife safari

Some of the animals get sooooo close

Our hotel room was pretty nice

It was one of thise extended stay marriot kind of places

In ‘n’ Out! I introduced in n out to someone, my life mission is complete lol

We also hit a winery and got some AMAZING pear wine

A little ice cream and chocolate stop in Ashland and we headed back home. 

It was a really fun low key road trip weekend. I look forward to the next one, I’m thinking the coast in a month or 2 when its nice and stormy. 

Monday came way too soon. 

How was your weekend?

Strength night and randomness

Found this awesomeness on pintrest 

I relaxed at lunch in my car listening to a book on tape 

Got home from work and went through a few boxes looking for my personal training book. Then hit the gym at 7:30 to work out with a friend. 

My arms and legs are a little shakey now, which means job well done. 

Then relaxing and eating came next

Somebody else loved their dinner just as much as me

Maybe even more. 

And a little dallas cowboy cheerleaders training camp with the roommate. 

And now its bedtime!!!!

What was your workout today?

Shake it out Wednesday 

I am trying to reset my gut with a con cleans, probiotics and healthier food.

After work I went home and puttered around the house a bit then headed out for a super short run to shake my legs out after the hike and not running last week since I didn’t feel good. 

Running hurt, my calves and lower back were really sore but totally felt good to run. 

Have you ever done a colon cleanse?

Book on tape review 

This book was interesting and I didn’t see the ending comeing. This was definitely a slow moving book, though that worked for me since I don’t always pay 100% attention to the books when I am running or working. 

Overall I liked the book, I like slow build books just as much as jaw dropping books. 

What kind of books do you like?

Marmot pass Day 2

Even though I didn’t sleep very well I woke up to the cutest face ever!

I can’t get over how flipping adorable she is!

After the freezing night we woke up to frost on the ground

Artemis in her little sweater

We had a great view!

After some breakfast we packed up and were on our way!

We were tired so we rocketed back to the car. Plus going down is faster than going up so it took us about 1/2-2/3 the amount of time to get back to the car. 

On the way back Artemis got bit on the butt by a bug, poor thing, I gave her 1/2 a benadryl and that took care of any swelling and she is fine now. I got stung by a yellow jacket, my first sting in probably 20 years, good thing I’m not allergic!

I’ve never been so happy to be back in my car lol. The dogs passed out pretty fast. We stopped for McDonald’s and Starbucks and made the 5 hour trip back home. 

Monday was a lot of relaxing, we all dogs included, spent most of it on the couch but I managed to get some laundry done and a bit of unpacking and some grocery shopping done. 

How was your weekend?

Do you like the uphill or downhill better on a hike?

Marmot pass day 1

We were out the door by about 7:30 and hit McDonald’s for a high calorie breakfast. Both dogs were excited but unsure what was going on as well. 

The roommates little dog dog got too excited/nervous and barfed a little. So our start was cleaning

Then we were off on the 6 hours drive!

It took us about 5 hours to get to the area then another hour to go the 15 miles on dirt/gravel/pot whole road to the trailhead. 

And we are off!!!!

The first 3.5 miles of the trail were beautiful!!

Had nice rolling hills and crossed the water several times.

There were some interesting water crossings

Artemis was a little hesitant of the flowing water in the beginning then she got a little more comfortable 

We had some fun kookie moments

So after those nice 3.5 miles we took a little break, had some pop tarts and snacks, love trail food, and drank some water and Gatorade. Poor Carra got stung by a bee. Then we headed out to do another 3.5 miles to the top……except these 3.5 miles were straight up! 1500 feet in about 2.5 miles. 

I was pretty slow on the uphill so she would stop and wait for me to catch up. She is sooooo freaking cute and sweet!!! Or she would turn around and come find me. 

I was dying a little. 

I stopped and took a break about 1 mile from out stopping point because the direction milage was a little off and I was dying!!

These block got me through the last mile. 

She settled in behind me for a little rest behind me

We slugged it the last mile and settled in. 

Got our tent set up

Nice little view from out campsite 

Can you find Artemis?

Someone passed out really quickly 

We ate, listened to a little bit of a book on tape and tried to sleep

It was a loooong night. I finally dozed off around 9:30 then at 10:30 Artemis got up from our feet where she at been sleeping and bounded up toward me shaking. The poor thing was freezing. I got her halfway in my sleeping bag and cuddled up. She warmed up and I turned my sleeping bag into a blanket for us. She warmed up got comfy and fell asleep. But every hour or 2 either she would wake up and move around or part of my arm would go numb cause I was laying funky trying to keep her warm. Needless to say I didn’t sleep well. Of course once I was awake it took me another hour to fall back asleep. 

I got 4-5 hours of sleep. 

But overall it was a good day. 

Pre-hike

I hit up REI with my friend and saw a rainbow 

Picked up a new hydration bladder since mine from the PCT got a little funky. Thank you mom and stepdad for your REI dividends!! My bought my new bladder!

Packing can get a little messy

A little lunchable snack before bed

A little Veronica Mars to find down

Laid out my clothes for tomorrow.  Always good to be prepared and ready to go

All packed and ready to go

See you in the AM!!