candy coated rose petals

My intern at work had her last day yesterday and brought me a little goodbye gift. Of course, it really wasn’t for me at all. Instead, it was a little collar for Ethan. But this isn’t just your ordinary collar. It has style.

Check out the fancy gold bell.

The collar features some rhinestone bling and an engraved tag!

Ethan is pretty pleased that even when he has nothing to do with it, he still gets a gift.

Don’t be fooled. This is his collar!

My mom has been hunting for a digital camera, as the really really old digital camera I gave to her more than six years ago no longer works. She obviously didn’t want to spend too much and wanted to get a free SD card with it too. I have had my Canon PowerShot SD400 for six years and it still works pretty well. I came across the Canon PowerShot SD1300 on sale on Amazon with a free 4GB SD card. When I told my mom about it, she offered to buy the new camera for me and take my existing digital camera as her own, reasoning that she doesn’t need as much of a powerful camera as I would.

So my brand new camera has arrived and I’m already excited about it. I took these pictures with my old camera. Not bad, right? Now I have to start taking shots with the new camera.

I received my Envirosax Botanica pouch today! It contains five environmentally conscious designs in a neat little pouch that’s about the size of a small novel. Each bag rolls up into a compact, palm-sized shape that can easily be thrown into your purse or even your pocket. I have always lusted after the Envirosax, but at $10 a piece, I could never justify the price.

How then did I get a five-piece pouch? I discovered Woot.com, that’s how! Woot.com is another deal site where they have a special deal a day in five categories. The normal Woot, Kids.Woot, Wine.Woot, Sellout.Woot and Shirt.Woot. They’re pretty great deals and discounts on a bunch of random stuff. The Woot community also can contribute various deals they discover throughout the interwebs. Definitely worth checking out if you like a good deal now and again.

For the past year or so, I have been slowly adding to my Calphalon cookware collection. I’ve done this by using credit card points, waiting for sales at department stores and finding the occasional pan at Home Goods—a random . My collection now includes a 2 1/2-quart shallow saucepan (pictured on Amazon), Chef’s skillet, stockpot, nonstick 12-inch covered fry pan (pictured on Amazon) and now …

a 5-quart shallow saucepan! I found it for $35 at Home Goods, which seriously could be my favorite store ever.

The pan is similar to the 2 1/2-quart saucepan but obviously twice as large. I think it will be ideal for cooking larger amounts of soups or meals where you’re boiling down a lot of liquid. The lip of the pan has a few scratches from handling at the store, but the inside coating is pristine. It also looks as close to the hard-anodized aluminum pans that I’m trying to collect, which are known to be a little more durable and long lasting than some of the more contemporary Calphalon pieces. After further online investigation, I’m actually pretty sure this pan is part of the ONE Infused Anodized collection.

The pan was on clearance so it didn’t have a lid with it, but I’m hoping I can buy the lid separately  (I found a lid replacement site that sells just what I need!). At $35, the pan too good to pass up when it’s normally sold for around $100 on sale. Now I better get cooking!

Week 1 of the 10k training program has been completed successfully. It was unusually hot and humid in Chicago this past week , so running felt a lot like trying to breathe underwater. That may end up being a blessing in disguise because I tend to overdo it when I first start up running again and the general difficulty due to the heat could have slowed me down to the benefit of my muscles and endurance. Thursday’s workout was probably the roughest because it was close to 90º F out. I look forward to next week’s training where rumor has it that the humidity will break.

Here’s this week’s schedule.

Schedule for Week 2:
Monday – Run 30 minutes
Tuesday – Run 2 miles
Wednesday – Off
Thursday – Run 35 minutes
Friday – Off
Saturday – Run 45 minutes
Sunday – Off

I’m planning to take a yoga class on Sunday, which will hopefully be a nice stretch as the training distances and times increases with the program.

As I mentioned yesterday, I start training today for the Susan G. Komen 10k Chicago in September. The seven-week training program I am following builds your ability to run longer and farther by mixing up distance and time goals. I’m using CardioTrainer to track my progress.

The full training program is available to anyone. Earlier this summer, I made it through week 4 before the summer got too busy for me to keep up with it. My workout plan has me running Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. I am hoping to build in yoga for additional stretching and I’ll also be taking some classes at Exhale Spa (despite how sore I get after the class. I’m currently on day 3 after a class on Friday and I’m still super sore!). On top of this, I’ll still be doing my chiropractic exercises each night, which usually takes about an hour to complete.

Schedule for Week 1:
Monday – Run 25 minutes
Tuesday – Run 2 miles
Wednesday – Off
Thursday – Run 30 minutes
Friday – Off
Saturday – Run 3 miles
Sunday – Off

Wish me luck that I will get my training started on the right foot.

There are only 48 days until the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure Chicago. I set out with a very modest goal of raising $100 for this year’s race and I’m only $10 away from my goal. I am very excited about this race as it’ll be my first attempt at a 10k. I hope I do well. I begin officially training this week so I have to stay focused on the prize.

I also registered for the Bone Marrow Registry a few months ago and received my official email notification that I’m fully registered. I could help someone at any time! How great is that?