I am a commuter!

For the past two years I have been driving 45 minutes to work everyday. It is about 35 miles. I live on the Outer Banks and work in mainland Currituck County. I enjoy my decompression time in the afternoons and I catch up on podcasts in the mornings. 

At least there is not a lot of traffic! 

#commuterproblems! One of the biggest problems I have is that I have to pack for a whole day when I leave for work in the morning. Usually that means school work, workout stuff, lunch, and purse! You can call me the bag lady if you want. Above is a light packing day. I also make enough coffee to get me to work and I have my water bottle to drink on my way home. 

I have read a lot about commuters and the one thing I hate the worst is that commuters are more likely to be overweight. I hate excuses and that is not going to happen! I make sure of that by bringing my running/ workout clothes and working out or running while I am still in Barco (That is where my office is). I work on this really neat community campus with parks and rec, the senior center, aviation school, airport and the YMCA. They have not completely finished construction so I run the roads and then cut through the woods. This gets me a little over 2 miles. When the sidewalks are finished it will be a longer run and I will not have to cut through the swapy woods or jump the ditches to get back on the road. 

To make sure that I get to work on time I have a very specific schedule.
My Morning routine: 

5:00 Bob Marley wakes me up with Kaya 

5:05 Coffee is being made! 

5:05 - 5:25 Morning Yoga 

5:25 - 6:00 Breakfast and Full House

6:00 - 7:00 Getting ready! Packing for the day , laundry and/or dishes 

7:00 - 7:15 Take the dog out 

7:16 Out the door! 

7:30 News update on the radio 

7:35 Podcast 

See I have got it down! I even subscribe to my favorite podcasts so I am always ready! I love love love stuff mom never told you. I think women keep far to many secrets from one another so this is a great way to explore the mysterious womanhood.  Freakonomics is cool mainly because it was my freshman reading in college and Stephen Dubner is an Appalachian Alumni as am I! He also spoke at convocation my Freshman year! 

Whats going on?? Why no posts?

Well I have been extremely busy and my focus has been on work, school and become super healthy! So I have not had a lot of time for sewing. I guess I could cut out sleeping but I really really like sleep. So I thought it might be easier to post about what I am doing rather than just projects I have going.

So I wanted to show you how crazy my life! This is a picture of my desk today. I know crazy, but thankfully school is almost over for the semester. Summer is on its way and maybe I can turn back into the beach bum I have always been!

I have been working hard to finish my first graduate class at East Carolina University. I have taken other classes since I graduated from College APP State '10, but this one is the start of my graduate program, MS Family and Consumer Sciences Secondary Education. I will take the GRE this summer and apply for grad school in March. Wish me luck! I am powering through this literary review with muller! Non-fat yogurt with caramelized almonds! So good, but it is 200 calories as my fitness pal reminds me. Naked Protein granola and coffee are of course important to keep me focused. 

I am back at it! Running and workout got me through college, but as an adult I have found little time to do anything other than eat, sleep, or work. I have been working through this and I will be posting some workout/nutrition stuff, because thats whats going on with me right now. My sewing machine is feeling a little neglected. Maybe I can pull it out durning the summer?

As summer approaches I have been spending a lot of time with family. Mainly because I live at the beach, my family loves the beach, and they just need a reason to come down as often as they want. I constantly remind them that it get cold here too! This is us on the newish Jennette's Research Pier. It is so cool to see the wind turbines, and other sources of wave energy they have been able to harness. This pier was built by the aquarium so it has several huge tanks with fish in them!

Hope you enjoy some of the new stuff I post! 

-Liv

Summer Night Alone

Lights over the top of my deck 

Pandora Station I am listing to. Add a little Tiny Tim in there too!

MacBook for tunes, wine for sanity, and the mason jar as a night light

Drink of choice, almost as good as my Pink Truck 

I love the lights 

A nice spot to rest and relax after working all day 

The patio garden that surrounds me

Things I have learned from Contemporary Folk Music tonight:

1. Let it be 
2. You can't roller-skate in a buffalo herd
3. You can't go fishing in a watermelon patch 
4. Sweet Pea your the reason I keep coming home 
5. Darlin' your heads not right 
6. You were only waiting for this moment to arise

I think Contemporary Folk music could be my new favorite music especially if I am going to lean things like these! To night was a nice relaxing time and I am glad I got to spend it with myself. It is hard to remember that you need to have time to turn your brain off and just pick up on the funny lyrics to calming music. It takes my mind off the fact that all the clothes I have washed are hanging around the Apartment because the dryer is broken. 

My goal for this week is to spend time with myself!!