Levenger Love

Being an absolute organization freak, my week month has been made by the Circa notebooks from Levenger.  My mom introduced me to Levenger at an early age, and ever since those youthful days of coloring with my highlighter pencils, I've loved to indulge in their high quality "tools for serious readers."  And yes, I know this makes me a raging nerd.

Even though my hyper-organized boss has been mocking me for my excitement, I can't help but obsess about these notebooks.  Not only do they have chic bookcloth and leather covers and great styling, but there are countless varieties of refill pages and you can quickly and easily move them around to suit your needs.  And the best part - you can get punches to make any paper fit on the binding rings!  While I've only had these for a week or so, I'm quickly embracing their functionality.

The smaller red one is for "personal" use - grocery lists, to-do lists, meal planning (woo hoo Vegas vacation diet), running routes, a spreadsheet for my bills, etc).  The larger one is for work projects.  I created this one from the Simply Irresistible kit which includes a sampling of products and a $40 gift card for future use, all for only $40!  I plan on upgrading this one soon with an awesome buffalo leather cover.  I'm practically salivating just thinking about it.

How cute is this monogram?

I was a little apprehensive about how the pages would hold up after moving them around, but after removing and replacing them several times, they hold up surprisingly well.  

My Circa notebook has been an organizational gem and I really can't wait to dive into it even more.  Yes, I realize that I just spent 20 minutes writing about a notebook, but it's hard not to when it's that smart of a product...just don't tell my college friends.

I love running, I love running, I love running...

I've recently decided that I'm going to make myself enjoy running.  Everyone I see running in St. Paul is so slim and athletic and looks so damn happy.  I'm determined to be one of them.  I was a decent sprinter (okay, in middle school), but I've never been much of a runner. 

I found a wonderful iPhone app called "Couch to 5k" that has 9 weeks worth of training plans programmed in.  It takes you through 3 workouts a week of running/walking intervals and even "dings" over your music to tell you when to pick up your pace.  Being a slave to organization of any kind, I love the structure that this app offers.  I had done the week 1 intervals a few weeks ago, so I started in today with day 2.1.  It was only 20 minutes of alternating 90 seconds of running with 2 minutes of walking, but I love the way I felt like I was actually making progress.  Running outside by the river is definitely better than running on a treadmill!

I should be done with the 9 week program by early June, so I'm going to register for a 5k at the end of June as extra motivation.  Beyond that, I'd love to do the Twin Cities Ten Miler in October and a half marathon in Vegas in December.  The question really is, can I convince myself that I love running enough to do it for 13.1 miles?