Pocketful of Joules

I planned to have an actual blog post for you today, but it’s Finals week for me and after work and finals… I don’t really have much brain power left. However, I did just get the race photos from the 10k I ran over the weekend (blog post here) and holy crackers did I have a pretty ridiculous photo.

Wanna see?

I have no idea how I got that much air in mile 4 or 5… but I look awfully happy, don’t I?!

Or maybe just crazy. Because I totally registered for another 10k in 6 weeks…

When we moved into our house 6 years ago, I was pretty excited to have an in-kitchen pantry. I organized it back in 2013 and it pretty much stayed exactly the same ever since. Which, I guess, means that the organizers I bought worked really well.

The problem is Costco.

I try to only go to Costco every 4 – 5 weeks or so. Each time I go I pick up a huge piece of salmon, which I then cut into 4 pieces and stick in the freezer. We eat salmon once a week (it’s part of my lowering cholesterol diet), so once it’s gone… I need to go back to Costco. I also like to buy a huge bag of mixed nuts (each bag lasts us one week of packing lunches), a huge jug of olive oil for refilling our regular bottle, bulk portions of goldfish and cheese-it’s, toilet paper, paper towels, etc.

This stuff does NOT fit in the pantry. So, instead I would just kind of pile it up on a table sitting in my laundry area. We don’t really have a laundry “room” because there is no door. Instead you can actually see the laundry area from the corner of the den. There is also a door to our backyard there, as well as a door to my garage.

I put a table across from the laundry machines as a way to have some nice hidden storage, but it wasn’t cutting it. I forgot to take a photo of the actual table, but here is our stash piled on top the washer/dryer after I removed it:

Here is the space where the table used to live… next to the door to my garage:

It’s a perfect little area that is hidden from the den, but still pretty accessible for easily grabbing and refilling stuff… like goldfish.

We took a fun family trip to Ikea (MEATBALLS!) and after wandering around the store in a stupor for an hour, I picked up a HINDO shelf unit. Specifically, a HINDO shelf unit and a HINDO cabinet unit which totaled $119.

My husband brought in the two flat pack boxes and then escaped to the garage while I put it together. I’m actually one of those weird people who really enjoys putting together furniture, so it worked out well for both of us.

Here’s the bottom part all assembled:

After putting the top shelving unit together, I grabbed some drywall anchors and secured the entire unit to the wall. This is super important to do if you have a kid in the house, because you don’t want a heavy unit to fall on them!

Here is a close up of one of the straps:

A strap wraps around the bar and then gets screwed right into the drywall anchor on both sides of the unit.

And here is my new overflow storage area:

{Swoon}

I LOVE it. I’m actually at that point where I will just randomly wander into the laundry area and stare at the storage unit. It does look close to my garage door, but it doesn’t get in the way when I open it. The cabinet area stores accessories for our vacuum cleaner and steam cleaner. The upper shelves hold all our bulk pantry stuff with room to grow. The cabinet and shelving area are both super sturdy and I’m really happy with how it all turned out!

No matter how many times I say I’m going to actually prepare for a race… I don’t. Whether it be my first 5k after popping a baby out of my hooha (find it here) or my first 10k ever (here’s that post) I always register with the best of intentions, and then do literally nothing to prepare.

Well, I did it again.

I got all registration happy in January and registered for the Sole of the City 10k. I figured, I had PLENTY of time to do a bunch of warm-up runs. And then, months went by and I ran ONCE. Yeah, that’s right… I banged out a whole 2 ½ miles in the middle of March and was pretty darn proud of myself.

I kind of ignored the fact that I’d signed up to run 6 ½ miles. And that worked pretty well for me, until the weekend before the race. That was the do or die time of ‘should I go on a practice run or just sit on the couch so I don’t hurt myself before the run?’ Wanna guess which I chose?

Yup, couch potato.

In the days leading up to the race, I started feeling a little nervous. I wasn’t sure if my 40-year-old body could deal with the shock of running 6 ½ miles. So, I ignored it some more.

Then, the day of the race came. When in doubt, wear a cute running skirt…

I’m not going to say it was a perfect race… because it wasn’t. Around mile 2 I felt kind of pukey with some acid reflux, which thankfully worked itself out within a half-mile or so. And I was certainly slower than I wanted to be. BUT. I did it.

Here is my friend Lindsey and I after the race:

And here is the most Baltimore photo in all the land:

That’s a ton of Natty Boh boxes, in case you are trying to figure out what you are looking at…

After the race, I used the Physique 57 Massage Roller from my Spring FabFitFun box and I really do feel like it helped my calves not feel so ouchy. My knees hurt later that day, but nothing that some extra strength Tylenol couldn’t handle. On Sunday I was sore, but honestly didn’t feel that bad. I remember feeling much worse after the Bay Bridge 10k in the fall.

So, rack up another win for my ‘no preparation’ races. Guess I should find another one to register for soon…

Over the weekend I had an appointment at the Apple store to get my battery replaced and was shocked to find out that it would take TWO HOURS, even with an appointment. They took my phone and threw me out into the mall to waste two whole hours… so I decided to hit up the Anthropologie sale. And by sale, I mean ‘sale on sale’ because everything on sale was an additional 40% off.

Of course, I didn’t have my phone… so I couldn’t do any dressing room snaps for you all. But I did try on a few new items, so I could give a little feedback.

They’ve been advertising these two skirts pretty hard lately. I’ve seen them on various Instragram personalities, as well as on display at the stores. Before I started crushing on them too much, I figured I’d try them on and then if I loved them and then wait for a good sale.

Willem Skirt, $128.00
Find it here

Source: Anthropologie.com

I thought I’d love this skirt and I’m glad I tried it on… because I totally don’t. The fabric is super heavy and you have to do it up by the squeaky tight-fitting front buttons. I’m typically a 10 or 12 in skirt and the 12 fit a little snug. It was super unflattering in the belly area and the length was really frumpy too.  All in all, I wouldn’t recommend this one for those of us larger than a 4/6.

Luria Striped Skirt, $118
Find it here

Source: Anthropologie.com

This one looked absolutely adorable on the store model, so I grabbed it to try. They only had an XS and XL, so I tried the XL. This looked TERRIBLE on me. Sure, it was a size too big, but even if I cinched it up it was still awful. The cotton fabric was thin and droopy and to be honest it looked like something I’d find at the thrift store from the 1980’s. This one is a nope.

I checked online and both of these skirts have great reviews, so maybe it’s just me that looks terrible in them…

I did have some great luck in the sale room!

Hemant & Nandita Lazuli Dress
Find it here

Source: Anthropologie.com

There was only one of these dresses in sale room and it was a 10P, so I kept my expectations low. However, once I put it on, I LOVED this dress. The original price tag was $228 and it was marked down to $129.95… so at 40% off it would still be $78. While I didn’t really NEED this dress, it would be great for various upcoming wedding celebrations and even appropriate for work with a cute cardigan. When I went to the cashier to buy it, apparently it was supposed to have an updated sale tag of $69.95 before the ‘sale on sale’… so it came out to just $41.97! I’m so glad I didn’t put it back because this was such a steal!

It finally warmed up enough outside to do one of my old-school front porch pics, so here it is on me:

I’m certainly a bit curvier than the Anthro model, but I think it’s pretty darn cute!

Foxiedox Autumnal Slip Dress
Find it here

Source: Anthropologie.com

I’ve actually come across this dress in the sale room a couple times over the past few months, but never bothered to try it on. I’m glad I gave it a try this time though, because the large fits me really well. The original price of this one was $168 and after all the markdowns and the sale, it ended up being just $29.97! This is a heavier fabric, so it will look good with booties and a sweater in the fall/winter/now, but also will be great for warmer weather with sandals.

Here it is on me:

And here it is with a thrifted cardigan topper:

Looking at the photos, I’m wondering if I should shorten it a bit. Do you think I should hem it knee-length?

Original price total: $396
My ‘sale on sale’ total: $71.94

I think I’ll get a lot of wear out of both these dresses, so I’m glad that Apple *forced* me to go shopping!

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