Gretch Runs

Happy June everyone! It's already time to go over my goals and how I did this month.  Can you believe it's nearly half-way through the year?  I'm going to be changing up a few of my goals after this month, so I'm excited to have some new goals coming up.  This has been an amazing year already! Each month, I'll go through each goal area and talk about my progress on each resolution.  If there's a "+" by the resolution- that means I was successful that month!  If there's a "-", unfortunately I missed the mark.  Some of my goals are more of a year-long thing, so until I complete the entire goal (for example saving $15,000) I'll have a "-" (which is why none of my fitness goals have a "+").  I'll give you a quick update on my progress though, and hopefully there will be a "+" before the end of 2016! Enough chatting for now, let's get to my monthly resolution update for May! Financia...

Hello, Friday!  I'm so excited for this weekend, because it's a long one!  I have Monday off for Memorial Day, and I'm going to be spending the weekend hard at work.  My parents are doing some demolition in the dining room, and Dan and I have some projects to work on at our house.  We're going to be really busy! Linking up with  Mar ,  Cynthia  and  Court  as well as  Heather  and  Momfessionals I hope you all had a great week, and I'll see you next week! Outfits Top ( Target ) x Pants ( Limited ) x Shoes ( Target ) Caribbean Rainbow Salad photo by Alexa..I couldn't do the recipe justice with my own picture! I'm always drooling over Alexa's amazing recipes (and her photos...my gosh), and I knew this was a recipe I had to try!  Mango is one of my favorite foods, and I loved the idea of adding it to a salad.  I prepped this on Monday and enjoyed it all week, and I know I'll be having it...

Hi everyone! Since today is Wednesday, that means it's time to link up with Jenn and share some eats!  Last week I started a new job, so I thought it would be fun to take along in a day in the life.  This particular day was a department conference, which means all of my meals were planned out for me!  It was a lonnnngg day, so I hope you enjoy following along! 5:45 Wake up, shower, get ready.  Our invitation said "smart casual" so I decided on skinny pants, Express Barcelona cami and my Forever 21 blazer . 6:30 Leave to catch bus. 7:15 Get to office, make some coffee and heat up food.  My new go-to breakfast is roasted sweet potatoes, sauteed kale and onions, bacon, re-fried beans, and avocado.  SO good, but really not appetizing to look at.  I'll spare you all a picture, but seriously try that combination.  Amazing. 8:00 I have a few short meetings and emails to catch up on before the conference.  Before I know it, it's t...

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Today I'm going to be sharing the second part of my Belize recap.  In part one , I talked about San Pedro and the beach, and today we're going to go to the "underworld" and talk about caves! This was actually my first experience, but Dan used to be in the caving club at Penn State!  He was really excited to explore some of the caves in Central America, particularly the ATM (which is the top-rated activity in Belize!).  We visited three very different caves and had three very different adventures, so today I'm going to be talking about each of them!  I hope you enjoy! Rio Frio Cave Facts:  65 foot arched entrance Man-made paths and steps take visitors through cave During dry season, there is a small sandy beach in the middle of the cave The entire cave is about 1/2 mile long The first cave that we visited was the largest opening, and shortest in length.  It was basically a huge room where tons of tourists...

Hi and Happy Friday everyone!  Did you all have a good week?  Mine was absolutely crazy-  we're getting settled into our new house now that we're all moved in, and I started a new job!  I'll be talking more about it in the next "What's New With You" linkup (make sure you join us on June 2), but needless to say this week has been hard.  I think I'm ready for some wine and relaxing this weekend! Linking up with  Mar ,  Cynthia  and  Court  as well as  Heather  and  Momfessionals I have some favorites from the week to share with you today.  I hope you enjoy, and have a fantastic weekend.  See you on Monday! Shark Clothes Steamer I actually borrowed this tool from my sister to steam my living room curtains after I washed them.  After seeing how amazingly it worked (and using it multiple times on my clothes this week) I need to get one for myself! I love how quickly this removes wrinkles...

Hi everyone!  Today I have a fun post to share- a review of my most-used gear during my trip to Belize!  We had a lot of excursions planned during our vacation, so I had to pick up a few things before we left.  After getting a ton of use out of them, I feel like I can give these products the GretchRuns seal of approval!  They stood up to the jungles of Belize, so I can definitely stand behind these. Whether you're planning an afternoon hike or about to go on a similar vacation, I hope you'll find these reviews helpful.  Let's get into the products! LL Bean Stowaway Day Pack This bookbag was actually the very last thing that I bought for the trip, but I ended up getting the most use out it!  I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a brand new bag that would get wet and dirty, and that I might not use a lot after the trip, so I was excited to find this one for under $40 at LL Bean.  I ended up using this bag every day during our trip, a...

Happy Tuesday!  Today I'm excited to share some photos and information about the first part of our trip to Belize!  We spent the first three days on the beach, then followed that up with six days in the jungle.  I hope you enjoy this look at our trip! We stayed at Xanandu Island Resort , which is located in San Pedro, Belize,  a town on the southern part of the island of Ambergris Caye.  To get there, we flew into the Belize International Airport, then took a short 30-minute flight over to the island.  There are also water taxis that you can take for cheaper, but it takes longer.  If you ask, the pilot will even let you sit in the co-captain seat on the plane! The island is really safe- Dan and I walked around at all hours of the day and never felt in danger.  There is one main street that everyone drives on, and lots of side streets.  I didn't notice any street signs, so if you're looking for a particular address, I would look for wh...

Hi everyone! I hope that you all had a great weekend.  This was a big one for me, because I moved into our new house!  Moving is usually really stressful and hard, but luckily we had lots of helpers (Dan's dad and brother and my parents) so the entire process was painless. Here are some highlights from the weekend, along with some packing tips! All packed up in our apartment!  We had some boxes from our last move, so we just packed everything up and emptied out all of the furniture.  I always try to keep boxes full of items from one room and write down the room so it makes unpacking easy! Another tip is to tape up your drawers!  First we emptied everything heavy out, then we taped them up so the drawers wouldn't swing open when we moved them. Make sure you save boxes for all big appliances!  We saved the box for our TV, tower fan, crock pot, etc.  It makes it so much easier to pack, and your appliances are protected!  I also put a...

Hi everyone!  Happy Friday...so glad that we made it!  I don't know about you, but the week after vacation ends is the longest week ever.  I'm so ready for the weekend! I have a big weekend ahead, including lots of house work and finally moving in!  If you want to keep up-to-date on what I'm doing make sure you follow me on snapchat (gretchxo).  Otherwise, I'll see you on Monday! Linking up with  Mar ,  Cynthia  and  Court  as well as  Heather and  Momfessionals Haircut I figured there hasn't been enough change in my life already, so I decided to get a hair cut!  I've had the same cut for the past few years- long layers all over and angled in the front- so I decided it was time for something new.  I have a really high forehead, so I decided to go for side-swept bangs, and used this picture of Emma Stone for inspiration: and I ended up with this haircut! I'm loving it so far but...