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By kilax, April 30, 2012 6:12 am

When I originally got the idea in my head to do the April Fashion Challenge, I thought the challenge would be not wearing the same outfit twice. But I have a lot of clothes. So that was not a challenge.

The real challenge ended up being to try to dress nice each day and not wear the same outfits twice. So that was hard. Because I am at home A LOT. I actually find it easier to dress nicely when I go in the office.  But if you look at the photos below, only the photos taken indoors represent days I was in the office. So for the month of April, that is 11 days (there were 21 business days in April). The photos taken outside represent days that I worked from home, had the day off, or was a weekend.

So. Most of the struggle was looking decent at home, while not repeating outfits (and I tried not to repeat outfits I have already put on the blog from other months, but some bits and pieces were borrowed). Let’s take a look at the outfits, and I will share my lessons learned (you can click on the photos to see them larger)!

Outfits I loved: 2, 7, 13, 15, 17
Oufits I don’t think did me any favors: 3, 6, 8, 12, 24, 26
Outifts that made me look like a librarian: 11
Outfits that made me look like a sexy librarian: 2
Outfits inspired by the 90s: 10, 14
Outfits I immediately changed out of after seeing how awful they looked on camera: 26 
Outfits that made me want to drive a motorcycle: 27 
Outfits that are not to be confused with me giving up, but are aiding in long run recovery: 29 

For fun: nail polishes rocked out during this time (all OPI):

Lessons Learned:

• I had fun thinking of different outfits to wear, and do like wearing things that are a bit on the crazy side. 
• Some days were just a pain to think of an outfit that wasn’t just jeans and a t-shirt (see: 27, 29) though.
• Getting dressed sure does take a lot longer when you care about what you are wearing.
• I have a lot of shoes, but none that I really like. And I don’t really care for shoes. As you can see, there was not much of a shoe variety.
• Steven confirmed his awesomeness by taking these photos each day.
• I definitely have a self-imposed wardrobe – skirt or dress, jacket or cardigan, belt. 
• I have no idea how to style my hair and hardly wear makeup (this is more of a reminder than lesson learned).
• Trying to dress cute on the weekends made me feel better about myself.
• Putting on something to “nice” wear after a long run is not… natural. 
• There are tons of outfits in my closet waiting to be discovered.
• A lot of my older clothes can still be accessorized to look current (in my mind?).
• Trying to dress nice each day made me notice other people’s outfits more.
• It also made me want to shop more. A few of these things were purchased during the month of April: yellow cardigan (7, 16, 25), waist belt (7, 25), white cardigan (9), blue blazer (10, 21), pink Star Wars top (10), waist belt (11), orange pleather jacket (14, 27), blue top (15), white belt (15, 16), blue top II (17), jean skirt (15, 18), purple cardigan (20), pink belt (21), red sweater – gift (22), gray jeggings (22, 28), black jeggings (24), We Run Chicago top (29). Ugh. That is a lot. Uhh… but at least I am mixing with things I already have?
• I still have a lot of stuff in my closet I did not wear (any of these dresses…). 
• Dressing nicer got me lots of compliments.

Hmm, I think that is enough lessons learned for now.

So what do you guys think? Should I do it again? I think I would like to do it now without buying anything new. Maybe only accepting gifts. Ha ha ha. 

Which outfits are your favorites and least favorites? (keep in mind the photo quality is not perfect on some, as all pictures were taken with my iPhone and I did not do any editing to any of them).

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By kilax, April 29, 2012 12:15 pm

Highlight of the Week: I felt really good this week, so I went for one of my 2012 running goals, and accomplished it – a new weekly personal distance record (PDR) of 61.1 (my goal was to run 60). Now, if I ran 9.5 miles tomorrow, I could meet one of my other goals – a 200 mile month. What do you think? Should I go for it? Ha ha. Either way, I am at a new monthly PDR of 190.5.

Monday | April 23, 2012: 12 m run (miles 2.5-12 with Sara, Katie joined us for last 4 miles)
Loc: Half Day FP, Temp: 55°/49°, Time: 1:53:35, Pace: 9:28 avg, Difficulty: easy/medium 
Tuesday | April 24, 2012: 7.1 m run (with Amy, Maggie and GRC friend Carrie)
Loc: North Branch Trail, Temp: 64°, Time: 1:11:52, Pace: 10:07 avg, Difficulty: easy
Wednesday | April 25, 2012: strength class
Strength: kettlebells, Difficulty: easy
Thursday | April 26, 2012: rest
Friday | April 27, 2012: 11 m run (with Bobbi)
Loc: Rollins Savanna FP, Temp: 49°/44°, Time: 1:47:03, Pace: 9:41, Difficulty: easy
Saturday | April 28, 2012: 11 m run
Loc: Around Round Lake, Temp: 43°/43°, Time: 1:53:26, Pace: 10:19 avg, Difficulty: easy
Sunday | April 29, 2012: 20 m run (GRC group run, with Bobbi, Carrie and Marlene)
Loc: Des Plaines River Trail, Temp: 40°/49°, Time: 3:35:38, Pace: 10:47 avg, Difficulty: easy/medium

Lessons learned:

• I have no desire to run a marathon right now. As much as I love to run long, I am no where near mentally or physically ready. Nope nope nope.
• Naps before a run are not as good of an idea as they seem. The naps feel so great you don’t want to leave for your run. 
• Being a competitive ass in Wednesday’s strength class made my form suffer (we were seeing who could do a certain amount of kettlebell moves the fastest) and I paid for it when my back was sore all day Thursday and Friday. 

Reminders for next week:

• Be more careful walking down the stairs – falling down the stairs this week did not make me feel very awesome.

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By kilax, April 28, 2012 7:18 am

I finally got it right!

I finally got Steven a decent Christmas gift!

Yes, Christmas was *cough* four months ago, but in classic Kim-style, I got Steven something he had to wait to use – an introductory flight lesson and ground school at Chicago Executive Airport. 

Steven’s been interested in getting his pilot’s license for a very long time*. We cannot exactly afford going all out getting his license, BUT! this awesome Groupon showed up for an introductory lesson… just in time for Christmas! Score!

So we redeemed it yesterday. Wow! We had perfect weather! Clear skies, not too windy… our instructor (who was younger than both of us but very knowledgeable) showed us how to check the weather, do a ground check,

and in less than 30 minutes we were off! Steven handled the lift or something while the instructor took care of the rudders, 

then Steven did all the flying! We were in the air for an hour. We went east to the lake, south down to the city, did a 180° back north, then headed west back toward the airport. I should mention, I was in the backseat, and we paid a small fee for me to ride along. 

We had to stay 2000 feet away from the buildings, but the view was still breathtaking (click to see larger)!

It was a surprisingly smooth ride (and I mean because of turbulence, not Steven’s flying, which I was not worried about) until we headed south back toward the airport, then it got a bit bumpy. 

The instructor handled the landing, we got out and set up the wheel chocks, took the obligatory picture,

and after a quick debriefing (and short spiel on getting a pilot’s license) we were done. We spent an hour in the air, and what seemed like less than an hour on the ground. It was really fun for me, and I was only riding along! I think Steven liked it, because he thanked me for his “awesome gift.” I excel at getting him dud gifts (no, really, I do) so I am happy he enjoyed it so much!

We did not sign up for additional lessons for Steven (yet?), but would like to someday! It would be awesome to fly to Guttenberg, IA, in the summers, to see my family!

Do you have any interest in getting your pilot’s license? Have you ever flown in a small plane like this before?

*It highly interests me too, but it only makes financial sense to have one family member be interested in it!

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By kilax, April 27, 2012 3:42 pm

This week’s theme: Why do you run? What is the main reason? We all have multiple reasons why we run (physical and mental health, friends, competition, etc), but what is The One main reason you keep lacing up and getting out there? This is a little open-ended, so have fun with it! Be creative.

I thought this theme would be hard to answer, but it actually came to me quite quickly! It’s just hard to explain…

Besides all the obvious reasons for running, the main reason I run is to satisfy my innate need for adventure and exploration. I feel like I have to get out there and explore the world around me – I need to know what is out there! And there is something about exploring a new-to-me (or old-to-me) place on foot that really gets me excited. When I had to go to Louisville a few times last summer I ran all over town. I actually (surprisingly?) learned a lot about the city that way and loved every minute of it. 

Whenever I travel, I look for trails and places to run. I feel embarrassed that there are so many trails in my home state (Iowa) that I did not know about. I am now in the process of checking them out! And I am really excited to visit my sister and her fiancé in Kansas this summer, because the town they are moving to has a lot of trails. 

I also like to try new paths to get to places I already know. And try different kinds of runs too (trails, snow, hills… the only thing I am not sure about is those Mud Runs/Obstacle Course Runs).

It’s really hard to describe the need I feel to get out there and explore new (and re-explore old!) areas, but running fulfills it for me! (okay, and travel too!!!)

Do you feel the need to explore?

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By kilax, April 27, 2012 8:13 am

Do you (did you) feed your pet table scraps? What kind of “human” foods do (did) they like to eat, if any?

Don’t worry, I think about things other than Data! It’s just that my sister made this video last weekend and I wanted to share it!

Data does not care for much human food except fish and popcorn (and not together). But the popcorn has to be just the way he likes it – perfectly oiled and salted. No dry popcorn for him! And he only likes the fluffy/poufy part of the popcorn. So we baby him and bite off that part for him to eat. 

It’s funny to me that Data does not want milk or cheese or anything like that (we even tried to give him turkey once, when someone brought it to our house for Thanksgiving). Growing up, our cats went cray cray for string cheese. Data just seems to be happy eating the same thing every day, until he hears Steven get the pan out to make popcorn, then he goes cray cray!

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By kilax, April 26, 2012 6:25 pm

We just got home from the vet’s office. Data was not too happy on the way home.

But once we got home, he was back to his normal self, starting to talk again and ask for food.

Okay, back to his normal self once he got that pesky bandage off.

His blood tested in “gray zone,” so the vet had to send his blood out to be tested in another facility. So, no news on a potential hyperthyroid yet.

He had his teeth cleaned, and the had to remove one! I feel so bad about that. But I am happy we got them cleaned.

Thanks to everyone’s warm wishes for Data today!

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By kilax, April 26, 2012 6:43 am

I was hoping to have something more substantial to post with the Under Armour Brave the Run Women’s Tee Giveaway winners, but I got this message when I turned my computer on this morning:

Just kidding! That is not my computer set-up. Sigh. It’s Steven’s. Notice how it’s grown since the last time I posted pictures of it?

I actually got this gem this morning:

No! The dreaded blue screen of death! Why didn’t restarting the computer 1238993 times fix that? Ha ha. 

Because I was dealing with the blue screen of death, I didn’t have time to come up with a brilliant post. Or, more importantly, say goodbye to Data, who is at the Vet’s office all day. 

FWP.

Anyway, here are the winners!

Size S: Kelly the Culinarian – Kelly
Size M: Out and About – Emily
Size L: Running: My Anti-Drug – Kayla
Size XL: The Blog With No Name – Anne

Winners, please email me your mailing address (kilax@ilaxstudio.com).

Thanks to all the participants! I just remembered another thing I purchased last weekend to giveaway so maybe I will do that next week!

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By kilax, April 25, 2012 6:12 pm

I wore a dress today that I got in high school. 

Is anyone else rockin’ clothes from back in the day?

I think the dress is a bit out of style but I paired it with a cardigan and belt and that seemed to work. 

What amazes me is that I still fit in to it. I was probably a lot lower in weight when I got it. I am heavier now, but it’s all muscle. Right…

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By kilax, April 24, 2012 4:34 am

I was reading the Runner’s World Trail Edition and wondering… do the “trails” I run on around here really count as trails?

I met Sara and Katie last night to run on a crushed limestone trail in a Forest Preserve. I prefer to run on crushed limestone because it’s so soft and forgiving. I call it “trail running” in my running logs, but is it really? I mean, I doubt those people running 1000 feet in elevation, through streams, covered in mud would think so. These “trails” are definitely not technical. But they aren’t concrete/pavement either.  They’re beginner trails!

What do you think – what counts as a trail? Are you a trail runner?

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By kilax, April 23, 2012 6:38 am

• My mom, sister and her fiancé visited. My mom and sister both have new jobs (!!!) and need new work clothes – time for some shopping, y’all!

• Steven made homemade cinnamon rolls Saturday morning.

• We ate lunch at El Famous Burrito.
• My mom found a ton of cute outfits (click photos to see larger)! My sis did too, no pics though. They got major deals on everything!

    

• Cute (man-made material) boots for moi. Only $15. Holla!

• I tried this on to be funny. Am I cursed now?

• I found a major deal on this Under Armour shirt that I HAD TO HAVE for me – on the back it says “RAIN. SNOW. SLEET. WIND. BRAVE THE RUN.” (Click images below to see larger)

 

This shirt is perfect for me because I am always out running in the crazy elements. The only thing that keeps me in is lightening, dangerous ice and bad visibility (okay, and broken garage doors). Do you feel like that describes you too? If it does… you can enter a giveaway to win this shirt! Hey, if it does not describe you, and you want it to, enter as well! Or… just enter! Even if you are male – maybe you have a female friend who would like it!

Under Armour Brave the Run Women’s Tee Giveaway Rules

1. Four readers will receive an Under Armour Brave the Run Women’s Tee. There are four to giveaway – one in each size – S, M, L and XL. For reference, I am wearing a medium. This is a HeatGear® shirt and meant to be loose but I liked it more fitted. 
2. Required to enter the giveaway: you must tell me which size of shirt (S, M, L or XL) you are entering to win AND tell me if you had to run in one of these elements (rain, snow, sleet or wind) which you would choose.
3. For an extra entry, link to this giveaway on your blog and leave me an additional comment telling me you did so. 
4. This giveaway is open until 5:00 PM CST on Wednesday April 25. I will probably write names on paper and draw the winner by hand. I will announce the winner on Thursday April 26. 
5. This giveaway is open to all readers.