Michael & Liz are Bloggable

I can now mark one of my New Year's Resolutions as complete. The first resolution was to go vegan for 6 weeks. Well today marks 7 weeks and I am still going. Although I need to put an asterisk because I would say there were about 4 occasions where I gave in and had a cake ball or a chocolate chip cookie. I have no regrets though.

At the beginning of January, I started a competition with my Mom and Sister to see who could drop 12% of their body weight faster. We all started this new vegan lifestyle and what's awesome is that we all dropped at relatively the same pace. This morning I just happened to hit my goal first. Within the competition I went from 185 to 160.8. When I started dropping weight, I was at my highest of 191 back in December. It should only take them one or two more weeks to hit their marks as well. It's so encouraging, I love seeing it.

One thing I've noticed the most about dropping weight is how low my blood pressure and heart rates are. My resting heart rate used to always be around 70, and now is consistently around 50. While running over the last couple weeks, I have recorded heart rates far lower than what I used to run at. For example on Monday, I ran a half marathon just under 2 hours while keeping my heart rate below 132. I feel like this is a change for the better and can give me the boost I need to get faster.

So the big question is, will I continue to be vegan now that I've hit my goal? Yes, but realistically? Not without some exceptions. For example today we have our baby shower and I am going to have a slice of cake and try whatever other goodies are there. But I think long term I can maintain a vegan diet 90% of the time. It's just those special times when I'll say 'who cares', and enjoy what I want to.

When I do something, it tends to be all or nothing. I am either gung-ho, or I don't do it at all. So hopefully I can do the 90% and not just say forget it all and go to 0%. Just the thought of running races feeling like there's nothing more I could have done to prepare, should be enough to keep me going. At least that's the hope.

I have done a lot of projects around the house, but this is by far the one I am most proud of. For many reasons:

• I was able to set a schedule, follow that schedule, and finish in the correct amount of time. 
• I never had to back-out or undo anything. 
• With the exception of 2 2x4 boards and some nails, I completely used all the supplies that I bought without any leftovers. 
• The end results were what I had in mind from the start.
• Everything ended up level and perfectly measured, which are 2 things I tend to have problems with! 
• It was physically draining lifting the shelves up in the air, so it's that much more rewarding.
• Storage space has become a problem for us, so having more is a HUGE plus in this house. 

Anyway, lets get to the results. I followed the schedule throughout the week, and despite some 9PM moments of REALLY not wanting to, I was able to be prepared and ready for the weekend to come. Here is a picture from the end of the week:


You can see the strips of wood that will hold up the shelves once I lift them up.


If you click the picture you can see the outline where the shelf will be along with marks for the studs so I don't have to think about where to screw the wood in. Having that already figured out is PRICELESS! Although I probably need to buy a stud finder, cuz using the tapping and nailing method wasn't wonderful.

Saturday was not as productive as I wanted it to be. I went running at the gym and ended up starting late at 10AM. We also were going to hang out with some friends that night, so I only had 5 hours to work with lunch in the middle. I really wanted to get both sides done, that way Sunday only entailed putting up the middle section. Unfortunately I left a little more than I wanted to, so this is as far as I got on Saturday.


It's got a thin 1/4 inch piece of plywood on the top. It doesn't need to be very thick because we aren't going to be putting anything heavy on these shelves. It's thick enough to handle light objects like empty coolers or Christmas decorations. The back is screwed into the studs and the strip on the left is shallowly screwed into the cross beam. I questioned how smart of a decision that was, but there are unused holes the construction crews left in the beam, so my little screws shouldn't do any more damage than those.

On Sunday I started at 8AM and worked until finishing around 7PM. I worked the ENTIRE day with the exception of a half hour for lunch and 20 minutes of going to Lowe's. Also instead of listening to music, I took the speaker from my computer and put it in the garage, and listened to 4 movies. Seriously made the time fly by!! I know I'm going to be sore tomorrow though. Here is some mid-day progress, this was probably around 4PM:


The metal strips on the top are screwed into the ceiling joists. The only other issue I had with this project is how much weight can the garage door handle? I decided since the front of the garage door is holding brick, which has to be a thousand times more heavy than my little 2x4's, then 50 pounds of wood wouldn't affect the structure at all.

So here are the pictures of the finished product. It ended up coming to 59 square feet of storage space. Music to my ears!!



And then one with the garage door opened, the final double-check to make sure I didn't just ruin our garage door. All clear!


Now starts the task of putting things up there. I can't wait to clear out space in the garage and make our guest bedroom livable again. It was space that went unused for years, but not anymore!! Even though this was a project for convenience and produced such simple results, it's definitely the project I am most proud of.

Back in December I started a project in the garage, but I didn't get very far. I bought a few materials just to start it, and wrote a plan on paper. I decided today that I should/could get it done in 1 week. That is a heck of a task with all I have going on.

With a baby on the way, STUFF is piling up in the house. Mainly because our new baby room used to be the storage shed of the house. Anything that didn't have a place, went into that room. Now that the room is cleaned out and baby-fied, that stuff no longer has a place. I could put it in the attic, but that's an ordeal in itself, and the attic only has so much space. Currently the-crap-with-no-home is filling our guest room, and with many family and guests coming in town for the baby, SOMETHING has to happen.

So the project is to build 46 square feet of shelves above the garage door. They will be 2 feet deep, and there will be a total of 23 feet running along the back and sides of the garage. They'll hang roughly 4 feet down from the top of the garage, which still means that the shelves will still be about 11 to 12 feet off the floor.

I figured there's no way I'd complete this in one weekend, so every day this week I will need to do something that gets me closer to completion. Here's my schedule:

• Monday: Clean out the work area and draw a level line around the garage to denote where the shelves will hang. 
• Tuesday: Find all the studs on the walls and mark them. This may sound like an easy task, but if my stud finder hasn't improved, I'll be doing the nail-tapping method. 
• Wednesday: Take an inventory of all my supplies and purchase whatever remaining material I need. 
• Thursday: Screw in a small strip of wood as guiding line for where the shelf will be placed.
• Friday: Find the studs in the ceiling where the metal strips will be screwed into the ceiling. 
• Saturday & Sunday: Assemble shelves then hang them. 

I don't think my week day tasks are that difficult, so on the nights I have more free time, I'll try to get more done.

I'll be sure to take pictures throughout the process.

The baby's room is coming together! We've spent quite a bit of time over the last few months planning all the furniture, fabrics, etc and I'm happy to say that my vision is finally coming together.

Yesterday was all about windows. In the baby's room, we have 3 odd size windows - two smaller ones on the outside and a bigger one in the middle. After thinking about it for a while, I decided to treat it like one giant window instead of three separate ones. To tie all three together, we decided to build a window cornice to wrap around the curtain rod. It's finally done and I am so happy with the result!

Here's the finished product with the curtains open so you can see the 3 windows:


As you can see, the fabric around the cornice matches the quilt on the twin bed, and also the crib bedding which is just slightly out of view. I'll blog about all that stuff when the whole room is complete, but for now, let's just focus on this window.

Michael started the cornice by using some wood that was actually used as a larger cornice in his Grandma's condo in Florida. Since his parents have re-vamped the condo, the wood came to live in our garage for a while and was perfect for this project. It just needed to be re-sized a bit, but we like to think of it as Michael's Grandma looking over our little boy.

After he re-sized the wood, I used a staple gun to cover the front in batting to give it a little cushion. Then came the fabric! This was tricky because I wanted it to look like one extended piece of fabric, but it needed to cover over 100 inches of board. My awesome sewing skills came in handy and I was able to put 3 fabric pieces together. Of course I can see the seams, but overall it's not too obvious so I'm quite pleased! Once everything was sewed and ironed, Michael then used the staple gun to add on the fabric. He then used brackets on the inside to hold it in place against the wall. Luckily, he hit studs so this isn't going anywhere!

Here's the final product a little closer up. We have a subtle elephant theme going on and it's all based on this fabric. I love how it turned out!


We also purchased blackout curtains from Target (these if you are interested) and love them. We have the same brand curtains in our Sweet Room (TV room) downstairs to avoid light glare on the TV and we love them, so we wanted to make sure we're able to get this room as dark as possible as well.

Overall, I love how it turned out! Now we just need to organize some more things in here, paint an end table and get things on the walls and this room is done! With plenty (hopefully) of time to spare before Baby Fulton makes his arrival! And, from when I started typing this post, our final piece of big furniture arrived for the room and I am just rocking away as a type - it's awesome! More details to come as the room get finished!

When I started this vegan diet, one of my main goals was to get faster at running. It only makes sense: 1. you drop weight 2. your legs don't have to carry as much 3. you get faster. The logic is there, but for some reason in my weight loss I haven't necessarily gotten faster, and I've realized why.

So it's been 45 days since I started "eating healthier", and it has been exactly 32 days since I went completely vegan. In those 45 days I have now lost roughly 25 pounds and am feeling more fit and healthier than any time in my life. In fact, I wrote a post a couple summers ago about how I had dropped to my lowest weight since high school. At this point I am now below that point, and I could not be more thrilled about it. I am close to achieving my weight loss goals.

What I have learned though is that running is much more than a formula. There are no shortcuts. Losing weight will not make you faster just like gaining weight will not make you stronger. I absolutely feel lighter on my feet. I can feel the difference between now and what I felt like 2 months ago to run, but I am a long way from where I want to be in achieving my running goals.

Losing the weight was certainly step 1 and I still have about 5 or 6 more pounds to go in this step. Step 2 is to maintain it while I train my butt off trying to get faster. Like I said though, there is no formula. I can lose all the weight I want to, but putting in the miles is the only way to improve. I think training not only trains your legs to get stronger to handle a lot of miles, but more importantly it trains your mind to realize that you are fine, you can keep going, you can go faster.

The other thing that losing weight does not do, is train your heart. Now that I have a Garmin watch, I am able to get real-time updates on my heart rate. What anyone who runs with a heart rate monitor will realize is that as you get in better shape, your heart rate begins to adjust just like your legs do. What I aim for is to never go above 160 beats per minute while running unless I am nearing the finish. Back in early January that meant I couldn't go faster than 9 minutes per mile. As I get faster and stronger, 160 bpm will start to mean I can't run faster than 8:30, then 8, then 7:30, and so on. So your heart needs to be trained just as much as your legs do. Losing weight certainly encourages a lower heart rate, but ultimately it's your training that will make your heart stronger and more durable in distance runs.

To get faster, your legs, heart, and mind all have to get stronger and be in sync. To me, that has little to do with your weight.

Just a quick update about my sports hernia. I decided, ironically the day before I started losing weight, that I would push through this injury without getting surgery. So far that decision has been the best one. I knew that it would eventually heal, but it almost feels like it has disappeared completely. The 2 things I could not do without pain was kick a ball and sprint. Sprinting appears to have been resolved. Last week I ran 8 miles with a friend and I sprinted at the end without an ounce of pain. In fact it wasn't until a few hours after I sprinted that I realized "holy crap, I just sprinted today without any issues!!!" I still have yet to kick a ball but I imagine that pain has at least gone down. I doubt I could do it pain-free though.

I say "almost disappeared", because occasionally I feel achy in the area that was injured, but that's about it. I can't really explain why it has gone away though, maybe it's the weight loss? Recently, within the last week, I have started doing exercises to strengthen my pelvic area, but prior to that I have shied away from inflaming the area.

I am thankful though, because late Fall was a depressing time for me, athletically. I felt helpless and giving up sports was something I was unwilling to do. It's in stark contrast to how I feel now. I am now more hopeful than ever. I am confident that 2012 is going to be one heck of a year for both me, Liz, and our expanding family!!

I've been slacking on the blog, and lately all I feel like writing about is babies and our baby prep. But no one really wants to hear about that. So other than that, all I could think of writing about is running or the movies we've seen on Netflix over the last few months. So for now I chose movies. We've seen a few in the theaters lately, but I didn't include those. 

November:

• Bridesmaids (2011) - 4 stars - The first time I saw this movie in the theater, I just about fell out of my chair laughing. The second time around, it was nowhere near as funny. 5 stars in the theater and 3 stars at home, so we land at 4.
• Get Him to the Greek (2010) - 4 stars - You ever seen Forgetting Sarah Marshall? Where Sarah Marshall runs away with Aldous Snow? Well this movie is all about Russell Brand acting as Aldous Snow again. I couldn't believe it when it came on. I really really enjoyed it, I think his character is hilarious.
• Sex and the City 2 (2010) - 1 star - If I were to set out to write and direct the absolute worst movie I could possibly dream up, I still don't think I'd fall below this movie. It was mind numbingly terrible. 
• Jonah Hex (2010) - 2 stars - I don't actually even recall seeing this movie, it was that forgettable. 
• The Last Airbender (2010) - 3 stars - They definitely made this a difficult movie to follow, but they also clearly set it up for sequels. If you hang with it and follow the plot, it's actually a surprisingly decent movie. I look forward to the sequels. 
• Shrek Forever After (2010) - 4 stars - Pleasantly surprised with this 4th Shrek movie, I wasn't a huge fan of any of them since the first, but this one came very close.
• Charlie St. Cloud (2010) - 4 stars - I need to write these reviews down closer to the time I actually watch the movies. I remember really enjoying this movie, but I can't remember why. I really enjoy Zac Efron, I'm ashamed to admit, the High School Musical movies are really enjoyable. 
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) - 4 stars - This movie gets 4 stars mainly because the graphics are unbelievable. It's hard to believe that it can be done. The plot wasn't awful, usually I hate the plot in the transformer movies, but this time I could actually follow it. 
• Hocus Pocus (1993) - 2 stars - The only reason this didn't get 1 star was because it was made in 1993. I understand it was made for kids, but even so, it's so incredibly awful. It has completely been ruined for me as a good movie to watch around Halloween. Although leave it to Netflix to ship it to us on the day before Thanksgiving. 

December:

• Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) - 2 stars - Basic premise: highlight the people who got damaged the most by the recession and have them complain on camera about their struggles. What doesn't make sense is that they featured some families who had lived in the same house for 30 years and those families lost their home. My question is, why don't they own their house by now? I personally cannot watch the movie and not think about how ridiculous their money management had been all these years. Of course it's everyone else's fault except their own. I didn't feel very sorry for the people they featured, which is probably why I only gave it 2 stars. 
• Going the Distance (2010) - 3 stars - Typical romantic comedy, you could see the plot climax coming from a mile away. I still enjoyed it though. The only thing I didn't like is, I can't imagine anyone like Drew Barrymore falling for a guy like Justin Long. 
• Wales: A Nationhood (2006) - 2 stars - I thought I'd learn something about Wales, but it was flat out boring. 
• Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010) - 1 star - It's not often that I don't finish a movie, but it happened with this one. Just couldn't stand it anymore. Just didn't find the plot set up interesting. 
• Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead (2010) - 5 stars - This movie kick started my changing opinions about food. The book Eat to Live pushed me over the edge though. If you watch this movie, it'll make you want to buy a juicer. Which by the way, we now own one.
• The A-Team (2010) - 3 stars - Decent action movie, and Liam Neeson does awesome every time, but that's about it. 
• Takers (2010) - 2 stars - This is one of those movies Netflix recommended because it had no other options and it's required to. Very little about this movie was interesting, stupid Netflix.
• Easy A (2010) - 2 stars - I don't find Emma Stone attractive, even a little bit. So that and the fact that the movie had a pointless plot, it gets 2 stars. 
• The Town (2010) - 4 stars - Ben Affleck was awesome in this movie. I'm not a huge fan of Jon Hamm as he seems to me the human equivalent of a big tall board. He's stiff, uninteresting, and lacks personality. Even with him in it, I really enjoyed this movie. The costumes that they dressed up in was creepy too.
• A Prophet (2009) - 2 stars - Another movie Netflix forces upon me with it's stupid recommendations. First of all Netflix, get the hint, there has never been a movie with subtitles that I've given more than 2 stars. I still watched the whole thing though, and I still can only muster giving it 2 stars.

January:

• Spirit of the Marathon (2007) - 4 stars - I think this movie was more designed for the beginning runner, but it was interesting to learn about the training habits of the elite athletes. I also feel bad for them. They have the same struggles I do, but on a grand scale. They train and train and train, running 100 miles per week, and then lose by 12 seconds in a 2 hour race. That's tough.
• Life as We Know It (2010) - 3 stars - Nothing special about this movie. I really like Katherine Heigl, but that wasn't good enough to improve this movie. You could also see how the movie ends within 2 minutes from the start.
• Fred Claus (2007) - 4 stars - I love Vince Vaughn, and very few of his movies will fall below 4 stars for me. I love his sarcastic demeanor most of all.
• That Thing You Do! (1996) - 3 stars - Liz really hyped this movie to me, but usually hyping a movie only ends in disappointment. It was average at best. And I also really wanted more Tom Hanks, but he played a VERY minor role. 
• Everything Must Go (2010) - 5 stars - Will Ferrell usually doesn't nail his serious comedies, but this one was awesome. Several times he busted out his sarcastic, Ricky Bobby-type, tone and it was very funny. I recommend this for all Will Ferrell fans, you'll enjoy it.
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Stranger Tides (2011) - 3 stars - My immediate reaction was "Why was that called Stranger Tides"? They said the phrase once in the whole movie in a very insignificant scene. The plot was convoluted and boring. This series will never be able to touch the success of the first Pirates movie. I'm afraid it may continue to go downhill with any future movies. 
• The Ghost Writer (2010) - 4 stars - This movie had my riveted from the start, but the ending left a lot to be desired. I actually can't claim to fully understand how it ended. It wasn't entirely clear to me, so I just assumed I missed something and it was excellent. The only reason I watched this was Pierce Brosnan and my love of the Bond characters. I'd recommend it.
• Facing Ali (2009) - 1 star - Why are we praising a guy who very clearly dodged the Vietnam draft?? Between his trash talking and his draft dodging, I think he's a despicable human being. I got this movie to see if it may change my mind, if there was something I was missing, but no, he's a piece of ...
• Winter's Bone (2010) - 2 stars - Got this movie because Jennifer Lawrence is the star in Hunger Games, so I wanted to see her in a movie before that. She did great in it and I think she'll rock Hunger Games, but she couldn't make up for this movie's plot. 
• Morning Glory (2010) - 4 stars - I freaking love Rachel McAdams in all her movies. This was a really cute comedy, I'd highly recommend it.
• Cyrus (2010) - 3 stars - This had "indie" written all over it, and yet had some big stars in it. It's basically a guy moves in with a girl who has a son who is angry about it. I think they could have done SOO much more with the plot. They have John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill and they can't create some hilarious prank scenes in the house? Come on.