My new Ad Challenge is up at DSO!  I’m so excited about this month’s posting bonus.  I’ve known for awhile that I wanted to do something Halloween related for my September posting bonus. I’ve never designed a Halloween style kit before…I had a lot of fun.  Hopefully you’ll like it too and come play!

RULES
Take a look at the ad I select and create a scrapbook page that is similar in layout or style to the ad. In the past months, I was a bit lax and said “just scrap however it inspires you”. However… some of the layouts that have been submitted for previous challenges did not look very “inspired by the ad”. Some I even wondered if they were playing the right challenge. LOL! So…. I’m going to have a few requirements this time.

Use the ad below as an inspirational starting point, your layout must include at least one of the following from the ad

* 4-6 photos going across (or down) the layout in a line.

* Everything is centered on the layout.

* Centered Large Title w/ Small Saying – must be arranged Bottom/Top or Top/Bottom (for instance the ad has the large title on the bottom (her name) and the small saying on the top (her slogan))

BONUS
To get the bonus, you’ll have to leave a comment at DSO on THIS POST before Sept 30th, 2010 and post your layout in the DSO gallery including a LINK to your DSO gallery posting so I can see your beautiful layout!

Here is the ad for September

I actually scrapped a layout to go with my challenge this month.  Last month I didn’t get a layout done… sad.  lol!  But this month the ad is much simpler and hopefully a little inspirational.

CREDITS :  Nautical Nights by Jen Reed

and… here is what you’ll be getting for playing along with me!

REMEMBER!! To get the bonus, you must leave a comment at DSO on THIS POST before Sept 30, 2010 and post your layout in the DSO gallery including a LINK to your DSO gallery posting.

I can’t wait to see your beautiful layouts!  Have fun and be inspired!!

Come play!

It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged over here at LC.  I had been blogging my running workouts regularly and even my weekly goals…but that seems to have fallen by the wayside.  Not that I don’t still workout or have a weekly goals.  Just that I haven’t been motivated to blog them. I was using my blog to get into the routine of having them every week and then got busy doing them.

Kids went back to school on Monday.  YAY!!  Not that I don’t enjoy having my kids around for the summer. I do.  But… by the end of August they are wound up and the fighting was escalating.  The girls don’t fight with each other as much as they fight with Dan. Dan is becoming that “little brother pest” that young girls HATE.  lol!  I am not complaining too much though because the girls REALLY look out for Dan.  More so then most kids that age look out for a sibling.

First Day – Jess, Dan, Sam

Dan started Kindergarten this year.

It seems like yesterday when the girls were starting Kindergarten…

If you haven’t checked out DSO in awhile there’s some great BABY Kits up.

And I’m giving this new Nautical kit away on Sept 1 to 6 lucky facebook fans.

Become a Jen Reed Designs fan and automatically be entered to win!

Total Mileage: 2.1 miles  (.9 mile jog / 1.2 mile walk)

Total Time: 33:03

Calories: 606

Workout : 5 m warm-up / .25 mile jog /.25 mile walk / .25 mile jog / .25 mile walk / .25 mile jog /.25 mile walk / .15 mile jog / .15 mile walk / walk til 2.1 miles

Walking Rate: 3.5   / Jogging Rate: 4.4

I upped my speed to 4.4 today.  I was aiming to run .25 mile in the last section but I couldn’t.  So I just went with .15.  I still ran .05 more than yesterday.  Decent workout although the back of my left heel is a bit sore today.  Going to ice it and hope it doesn’t develop into a problem.

Total Mileage: 2.1 miles  (.85 mile jog / 1.25 mile walk)

Total Time: 33:40

Calories: 638

Workout : 5 m warm-up / .15 mile jog /.15 mile walk / .25 mile jog / .25 mile walk / .15 mile jog /.15 mile walk / .10 mile jog / .10 mile walk / .10 mile jog / .10 mile walk /.10 mile jog / .10 mile walk /walk til 2.1 miles

Walking Rate: 3.5   / Jogging Rate: 4.3

The humidity is high this morning.  I could not get that last .25 mile jog all in one piece so I did .10 three times instead.  Breathing hard and took cold shower to cool body down.  Was good workout and I sweat a lot.  I love sweating when I workout.  I don’t particularly like the sweat in the eyes but it feels like I’m actually doing something when I sweat.

On another note, the fat flush shakedown is going well.  Today is the start of day 4 and I’m already down 6 lbs.

Total Mileage: 2.0 miles  (.8 mile jog / 1.2 mile walk)

Total Time: 32:14

Calories: 600

Workout : 5 m warm-up / .15 mile jog /.15 mile walk / .25 mile jog / .25 mile walk / .15 mile jog /.15 mile walk / .25 mile jog / .25 mile walk / walk til 2.0 miles

Walking Rate: 3.5   / Jogging Rate: 4.3

I’m going to try and workout every day instead of just M-W-F.  I might not be able to run every day and may have to change this to weights or something else.  But I’d really like to get back in the habit of working out every day.

Today was good even though I had an awful headache most of yesterday.  No side effects on the run it seems.  Running the distance instead of the time is pushing me and I may just keep this pattern and push the speed up to 4.5-4.7.  I figure at this point the object is to get a good workout not run straight out.  I think I put too much thought into running for 30 minutes straight.  I seem to be better at interval running and pushing myself in the interval rather than just plain running it out.  I’m still calling this Cool Running because I’m following their week 3 routine.

Total Mileage: 2.0 miles  (.8 mile jog / 1.2 mile walk)

Total Time: 32:33

Calories: 597

Workout : 5 m warm-up / .15 mile jog /.15 mile walk / .25 mile jog / .25 mile walk / .15 mile jog /.15 mile walk / .25 mile jog / .25 mile walk / walk til 2.0 miles

Walking Rate: 3.5   / Jogging Rate: 4.2

I took a week off from workouts last week.  Decided to reboot.  I started the Fat Flush 2 week plan yesterday and am hoping to keep up enough energy during the next two weeks so I can continue my workouts again. This time I’m tracking distance and not time.  I’m going to try and get in at least 2 miles a day – walking the last part until I get to 2.0.   I decided to start back up again from Week 3 of the program instead of going back down to Week 1.  Week 3 starts with the option to run either time or distance.

Day 21 : 5 m warm-up / 10 min jog /3 min walk / 5 min jog / 1 min walk / 2 min jog / 1 min walk / 3 min jog / 5 min walk

Total: 35 minutes - walking (15 min) / jogging (20 min)

I wanted to jog at least 20 minutes today even if it wasn’t 20 minutes straight.  So after the first 10 minutes (which I had a hard time with), I decided that I was going to run another 10 minutes – no matter how many times I had to walk in between.  My end workout time of 35 minutes wasn’t bad.  And I did run 20 minutes today – just not all together.

Funny how just a few weeks ago, I would have been thrilled with this workout.  sigh…. once you get a hit on something anything less than it becomes crap?!?  Hate when I do that to myself…

So I’ve decided that because of my sluggishness this week (and I think part of it is tied to the heat/humidity outside – I can’t open the door as I had been before), I’m going to stop the workouts for a few weeks and go through the Fat Flush plan again.  Then I’ll come back and try the Cool Running from the start but upping my jog speed a little – that way I’ll also have somewhere to go – drop – when I can’t run the full speed.

I did the Fat Flush plan back in May for two weeks and lost 10 pounds on it.  It really helped clear out the middle section of my body – my stomach wasn’t bloating and I felt better in general.  So I’ve prepared my shopping list today for getting myself back on the plan.