Silent Sunday

Here’s a review in pictures of our weekend with just a few words!  Enjoy and happy Monday!

Last day of the three musketeers (Thursday) meant a library visit, playground time, and fro-yo!  All Holden’s requests!

How Helen feels about Mommy going to work 😦

My loves

Front porch coffee time (Dog on furniture, people on the floor…typical)

8 mile run at the oceanfront = no foot pain!  So thankful!  P.S.  I have no idea how this happened except that I prayed about it.  I didn’t ice it, take meds, put heat on it, stay off of it…no explanation!

Boogie Board Love at First Ride

The fourth wheel to our Saturday night beach & dinner date

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

How was your weekend?

Any fun Labor Day plans?  Is it too soon to talk about the weekend?!

Natalie

Weekend Fun: Tea for Three

Linking up with Johannah for Hello Monday!  Let’s jump right in…  I’m so excited about this week!  It is going to be super busy with just regular week stuff plus a visit with some family, a preschool art event, and Helen’s baptism!  My to-do list is pretty scary.  All good stuff though!

This weekend was just wonderful with lots of family time, good food, and some good catching up.  My mom and sister arrived Friday afternoon a little ahead of schedule…which was awesome!  My mom is turning 60 in September, so we were planning on celebrating!  We got to enjoy a late lunch with them, and Holden even skipped his afternoon nap!  Who am I??!?  We had to pick up a few grocery items before they arrived.  I was super thankful to have this cutie taking up most my cart.

Holden was so excited to see his Auntie DeeDee and Moochie that he had to draw them some artwork to greet them!

Friday night was dinner and talking my mom into rubbing my sore foot/leg.  I also got already for my long run that was coming up early Saturday morning.

I was super tired when I woke up due to not going to bed early and a few wake-up calls.  Mommy and Daddy are really appreciating Helen=no wake ups in weeks at night!  You go, girl!  Holden was actually the night child right now.  Nevertheless, I was at the running trail by 6:30.  12 miles later…I’m done!  

Ignore the split time…I have no idea how I hit that button.  My overall time for 12 miles was 1:38.  Average pace was 8:10 per mile.  My previous half-marathon average pace was 8:23.  🙂  This made me pretty happy.  My foot and calf did give me a wee bit of pain during the first 6 miles.  However, I felt like a million bucks on the last 6.  I’m so so so hopeful that everything will hold together -for lack of a better way of expressing it- until this race is over.  I so want to run it and beat my old time.  Like more than I’ve wanted to do anything in a long time.  I’ve always been my own strongest competition.  I have made a promise to my foot to take a nice break from running starting the moment after the race is done.  Work with me, foot!  P.S. This was my jam on the run Saturday.  The Mr. and my sister think I like cheesy music…bunch of haters!  I’ll take all the motivation I can get to keep running when my foot is hurting.  Plus there was SAND to run through on this trail run.

Okay…back to the non-running aspects of the weekend!  After my run (and a surprisingly refreshing ice bath courtesy of my trainer/the Mr.), we were off to the Flowering Almond Spa at The Founders’ Inn for my mom’s birthday treats.  My sister and I were planning to just hang out or possibly go to a couple stores while she was being pampered.  HOWEVER, the nice receptionist showed us to the “conservatory” which apparently is code word for comfy, quiet, relaxing room with snacks, infused water, and K-cup coffee (which I have difficulty operating).  Yes, we will so wait there!

One magazine I was reading talked about something disturbing…bread buyers beware!  Apparently this stuff is in our bread and is no bueno!

Our next stop on the “Mommy’s 60th Birthday” day was the English Rose Tea Room.  We had a very nice lunch with all the typical tea-like items.  I loved the scones with clotted cream and lemon curd.  One of the scones was almond flavored.  Yum!  I also loved the pimento cheese mini sandwiches.  So good!

Bummer this one is blurry!  She’s a cutie!

We finished up the day visiting one of my sister’s friends who just had a cute little one and getting some coffee for the coffee lovers.  We tried 3 Ships Coffee down at the Oceanfront.  My sister really like hers.  It was a super fancy place I thought!  That is definitely saying something in today’s Starbucks world.

All good times much come to an end, and my mom and sister left after dinner on Saturday night.  The Mr. and I enjoyed a quiet evening with some Olympic viewing.  We missed this sad event!  I can’t even imagine how upsetting this must be to him.  Here’s a few more good ones from the weekend!

Sunday was lots of relaxing and church!  Two of my favorite Sunday activities.
Hope you had a great weekend!

Natalie

Weekend = Run and Beach

Well, well!  August 1st, we meet at last.  It seems like the countdown to back-to-school is on everywhere you look.  There have been some kids starting school (!), and school supplies all over the stores.  I even saw the Christmas (yes, Christmas!) decor going up in A.C. Moore today.  The Halloween stuff is already 40% off!  I have just a little less than four weeks until I start my tenth year of teaching.  20 until retirement!  Ha!  I kid…sort of.

I can tell you that I’m going to be one sad turkey that Monday morning to be heading out the door well before 7AM.  I’m going to be sad not be enjoying lunch with my two out of my three favorites.  I also can tell you that I’m going to be very eager to get out of there ASAP in the afternoon (just say no, traffic!).  I will miss the leisurely pace of our mornings…nursing Miss Helen, coffee that gets to be enjoyed mostly leisurely, staying in PJs until 7 (we’re crazy around here, aren’t we?), the dual nap time (so thankful for 2-3:30ish this summer!), and just exploring around with these two kids.  However, let’s look at the bright side for a few minutes…

1. I will talk with adults (and older children) multiple times a day.  As much as I love having one-sided conversations with Helen and dinosaur/pirate/Star Wars/etc. conversations with Holden, it will be nice to speak with an adult.
2. I will look more presentable in general and probably wear non-workout clothes.  This could be a positive or negative depending on the day.
3. I will be spit up on less.  Little Miss H spits up A LOT.  I am fairly certain that I vaguely (or strongly – depending on the moment) smell like her spit up all day.
4. Roscoe the dog will get the rest he needs.  Poor dog has been tired since April.
5. It is fulfilling to actually accomplish something in a day.  Like teach something?  Maybe do a lesson plan?  I don’t know….get real crazy and write some IEPs!?!?  Working at home aka mom life is challenging and rewarding in its way.  I do admit that sometimes I just want to do my TO DO LIST!!!!  I DO NOT want to baby talk, sword fight, read books, or pick up more mess!  There, I confess!  With that being said, I know that all that stuff is the most important stuff.  I know I’ll be DYING to do all that after about 3.5 days of work.  Right now, working quietly at a desk sounds somewhat appealing.
6. The Mr. and I will get to clean together…do laundry together…make baby food together!  Oh goodness!  Lots of WORKING TOGETHER!  I am only halfway kidding….it’s so wonderful to have partner in all this stuff.  During the summer, I try to do as much as possible of the yucky, chore stuff, so we can focus on enjoying our summer days with more free time for fun stuff!  Just like what we did this weekend!

Our Weekend –

Holden and his Daddy enjoying the water

We somehow got sunscreen all over my phone.  Hence the blurry picture!  Please note that my child went to the beach in her plain white onesie…all the babies of social media are trotting off to the beach with cute one and two piece suits.  Nobody got time for that!  This was actually her bedtime outfit…straight from the crib to the carseat to the beach!

Baby toes in sand = PRECIOUS!

She finally gave up and took a little nap.  It was so nice (for me and her!).

Before our beach trip on Saturday, I did my 11 mile run.  I was actually a very mixed run.  I have really been hating the first 2-3 miles of my longer runs.  I have no idea why.  I think maybe because I go all the way to the end of a dead end road and have to turn around.  I know I always instantly feel better when I turn around.  Well, the middle part of my run is typically “ok,” and the last part (last 2-3 miles) has been great!  I was getting all excited for the last 2.5 miles on Saturday…well I ended up having to stop and go home.  Then, I rerouted my course and started again.  It was a bit of a broken run.  BUT I did finish it!  I was very happy about that.  We wanted to head to the beach right after, so I didn’t stretch (naughty) and took a quick shower before we headed out.  We enjoyed lunch at home and some fro-yo.  Then, I did lots of errands in some dumb flip flops from Old Navy (aka the $1.99 ones) and in the rain (#notwinning).  I was tired and a little peeved by the time evening rolled around.  On Sunday morning, I woke up with lots of foot pain on the outside of my left foot.  😦  I took Roscoe for a walk anyways with Holden (dumb).  Then, we all went to church.  After lunch, I proceeded to make 4 different types of cookies…all while standing (dumb again).  What a hot mess!

I finally decided to take a load off and google diagnosis myself.  Well…a popular search result was STRESS FRACTURE which is causing me to STRESS!  We did some “at-home” tests to self-diagnose (yes, I made the Mr. try to be a dr.) with mixed results.  Today I woke up with some pain, but it is better than yesterday.  I’ve been icing like it’s my job.  However, I did do lots of errands today.  I can’t sit still.  😦  I also drank some almond milk so that should take care of any bone issues right???  P.S.  Recommended fix for this diagnosis is 6 weeks rest!!!!!

I’m going to attempt to be nice and calm to these people…(love them!  How cute is this picture?!?!)

I’m going to rest and not run tomorrow.  I plan to hop out of bed tomorrow morning like a child at Christmas and hope my foot is all better.  We will see.

P.S. My foot is so chilly right now that I can’t feel anything.  Problem fixed!  😉

Natalie

 

 

 

 

Thoughts on Aging and More Swimming!

Hi there!  Sure feels like Friday to me…but it’s only Tuesday!  I think that is due to lots of fun plans we have coming up this week.  We’ve been doing more swimming this week with a full hour today to make up for one day we will miss…

Check out that killer jump!  He absolutely loves jumping in now!

Little sister beating the heat with her fan!

I can’t believe the last day for us will be tomorrow!  I really thought it would be a bit of a pain in the you-know-what, but Holden has loved it!  As a parent, you know that you tend to love what seeing your kid(s) enjoy himself/themselves.  So…I had the best time too!  I won’t miss sitting in the sauna that the pool area is, but I will miss getting to see him enjoy the water.  Lots of pool/beach days in our future this summer I hope!

In other athletic pursuits, I did a 4 mile run this morning.  I foolishly did a pretty vigorous leg workout/arm/abs yesterday.  Now, the arms and abs were fine, but I could feel how tired my legs were as soon as I took the first strides.  Sunday was a 6 mile run too.  Apparently, I need a little more rest than I used to!  I was just telling the Mr. this morning that I feel like I’m a better runner than I used to be (i.e. in my youth), but I also feel like a more delicate runner.  More stretching, more planning, more “babying” myself in order to run better and feel better.  Isn’t it funny how things change?!?!  I used to look for the “easy” way or cut out some spots on a run to decrease my mileage when I was in high school.  Running/”practice” was a little more dread than enjoyment.  Nowadays, I’m scheming on ways to get out of the house and eek out a few more minutes to make my run longer.  So funny!  I was just reading a bit about how women become better endurance runners in their 30s and later.  Here’s hoping!  I’d love to beat my time (1:50:20).  🙂

My heel is still a bit tender, but I didn’t have any pain on my run.  More like stiffness.  I did have a pain in my side that I believe resulted in absolutely NO concentration on my breathing…I find that I have to be very methodical and make sure I’m breathing in and out of my nose.  All those things you forget when you haven’t run for a speedy purpose (half marathon 67 days!) in some time.

Tomorrow will be crazy busy for us, but I’m hoping to do some yoga and REST.  Like easy peasy yoga – I don’t want to break a sweat at all yoga.

Have a great evening!

 

 

Weekend Recap – Tomahawks & Running Shoes

Hi there!  Can you believe it’s the last week of June?!?!  Time is going so quickly!  We checked one item off our summer fun list by visiting the Jamestown Settlement this past Saturday.  Holden absolutely loved the Powhatan Indian Village!  It was our first stop when we got there.  P.S.  Everything takes three times as long with two kids…like getting out of the car!  🙂

In the picture below, the Mr. and Holden are standing in front of the little “deer stand” thing that the young Indian boys would sit in to shoot at or scare off critters trying to eat their garden goodies.  How about that for entertaining the kids!

Replica of the Susan Constant

Little girl riding on mama

Church pictured below

I think my personal favorite were the ships…Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery.  We also looked in all the buildings at the fort.  Holden even stated one time to one of the costumed people, “I like the Indian village better!”  In fact, he liked it so much that we had to go back a second time!  We did not go through the museum inside the welcome center, but it looked very nice as we were passing by on our way out.  Holden got a tomahawk to go with all his weaponry at the gift store, and I picked up another Christmas ornament for our collection.  Definitely had to get one since this is Helen’s longest trip away from home!

We had a nice picnic off of Colonial Parkway on our way back home.

The rest of Saturday was spent relaxing and watching Sleeping Beauty.

On Sunday, I went on my first trail run in a long time.  It was so nice to be out of the neighborhood running thing.  I did 6 miles in my new shoes!

Love my Brooks Ghost 9!  I had been having some Achilles tendon pain/tightness, but I took all last week off from ANY physical activity.  I’m happy to report only slight tightness this morning.  I did put my little rice pack thing in the freezer and put it on my ankle twice yesterday.  This brings me to my next point…I’m a little bi-polar when it comes to running these days!  I recently wrote about how I didn’t want to do the Rock ‘n’ Roll half-marathon in September.  Well…then I talked to a neighbor who is doing it and how she did it after she had her second child.  Competition…Competition…uh oh.  About 12 hours later, I found myself purchasing a race ticket on Groupon {yay for saving 15% off the price}.  So now I’m doing it!  I know that it will be tricky to get the longer and even the shorter runs in, but I’m trying to give myself grace and remember that I enjoy running.  I don’t have to beat my time {yes, yes, yes I want to!} or my neighbor!  😉  Who am I kidding?!  I want to do that too!  All jokes aside…it will be good to have time to think and for myself to be out of the house without a dog or a kid.  

My trail run did prove that I need to do outside runs as the humidity KILLED me!  I’ve been using my treadmill in my nice, climate-controlled house.  I felt like I had just moved here from the Midwest complaining about the Virginia humidity.  I also learned/remembered a few other things on my first long run…

1. No hat – better cooling
2. I like to run in tank tops not shirt.
3. Take a change of clothes
4. Wear hair in a braid – Whoa the tangles when I got done!
5. Runners are so friendly…probably the friendliest people you’ll see at 7AM on a Sunday in the heat running through a swamp 🙂

After my run, the kid and I went to church.  They were little angels!  Thank goodness!  Nothing like a crying baby to make all heads turn to you!  Later on in the afternoon, Holden’s C-Pa came over to take him to see Finding Dory.  What a special treat!  He stayed for dinner and helped the Mr. and I celebrate 6 years of marriage!

These chocolate-covered strawberries were so easy!

We cracked open our rehearsal dinner favor from over a year ago!  I felt all festive with the strawberries and Prosecco!

Love this guy!  So glad I get to do life with him.

How was your weekend?

Don’t summer weekends seem way busier than any other seasons?

What’s Up Wednesday

Happy Hump Day!  It’s the last week of school for some kids, and you can just feel the excitement of summer in the air!  I visited my school yesterday and got to see students and fellow teachers.  The main attraction was definitely Miss Helen.  We visited for a little over an hour and a half.  However, she slept the whole time!  She only peeked her eyes open a few times for a select few people.  It was so nice to see the kids, and I may be crazy…but it seemed like they had grown so much in just the two months I’ve been gone!  Helen looked just lovely in her power color, purple, but I didn’t get any pictures as my arms were full of a little baby I know.  Here’s a selfie I took in the Starbucks drive-thru…got to document this out-of-the-house-with-make-up-and-real-clothes thing!

This week has had a few ups and downs with Helen’s sleeping.  We tried something different on Monday night to try and alleviate the early evening nap crying.  It was AWFUL.  It turns out we just traded the early evening cries for the later evening cries {and for a longer period!}.  😦  Last night, we were back to the cries during the early evening nap.  It took her quite awhile to settle down, but I do think she got a little catnap in before waking up again right before 8:30.  However, she went right to sleep after a feeding, a bath, and some screaming at Daddy.  She screams at him every night.  Isn’t that terrible?!?!?  No sweet baby rocking.  Just screams!  It seems like she has to just get it out of her system.  Then, she settled down and slept until 5:30 with one feeding that I woke her up for at 11:30.  Yay!  No night crying and sleep all around!

Even Roscoe is happy {though he doesn’t show it}!

I really feel like this week has been the week for me to get back on the healthy eating horse  and enjoying my work-outs.  When I had Holden, I worked out pretty intensely right after having him {we’re talking like two weeks}.  I knew this was against my midwife’s directions, but I was desperate for exercise to help cope with the postpartum depression.  I am firmly convinced this was why I had bleeding that continue for many weeks.  This time around I took it much easier with absolutely nothing the first week, walks the second week, and yoga and walks the third week.  It wasn’t until week 5 was just beginning that I tried a slight jog.  I gradually added in light weights.  I am happy to report that any bleeding ended by week 3.  Yay!  However, I noticed that the baby weight wasn’t coming off as easily.  I’m sure being older has something to do with it as well.  I also noticed that I was coping with being tired by eating little bursts of “energy” like sweets, heavy snacks, and chocolate!  Obviously this wasn’t helpful for fitting back into my jeans.  I knew I had to do something.  I increased my work-out sessions and intensity, but I pretty much kept eating like I wanted to.  I still felt heavier/sluggish, and my wardrobe choices were limited.  I knew that the next hurdle was diet.  I reread the Eat to Live book by Dr. Joel Fuhrman.  It is such a motivating book that provides a very simplistic approach to revamping your diet.  I would highly recommend it.  The main facts I want to share from the book are focus on whole foods {no processed stuff}, cut out animal products {this includes dairy…although I’ve been eating eggs}, unlimited greens, lots of other veggies, tons of fruit, and no snacking {this goes against LOTS of other health advice, but I’m telling you…try it for a day or two or three.}.  I’m definitely over-simplifying all the good info in here, but you really need to read it for yourself.  It’s a pretty easy read too.

Image from Amazon

My little work-out buddy working on her neck muscles!

My two treadmill work-outs so far this week…I’m having some Achilles tendon discomfort.  I plan to give the treadmill a break the rest of the week and {hopefully!} get in the gym.  I also did only walking and a 15 minute yoga routine yesterday.  I’m really enjoying the free Tone It Up routines on Youtube.  Here’s the one I did.  

That’s all for me today!  We’re off to put some items in the mail, grocery shop at Trader Joe’s and Sam’s Club, and chill on the sofa with my favorite girl before big brother gets home from school.

Hope you have a great day!

Natalie

What motivates you?

Thank goodness the sun is out today!  I was all excited yesterday when I “thought” the weather report was calling for some sunshine.  Well, I was mistaken.  We did have just a peek of sun around lunch time.

Little H, Roscoe, and I even got a walk in today!  I used the Baby Bjorn to carry her, but I’m really excited to try out the Ergo with the infant insert.  We didn’t have the Ergo until Holden was much older, and I’m having a hard time figuring out just how to use it in the front body mode.  I’m thinking it needs to be a two man/parent job the first few times, so I’m stuck waiting for some time when the Mr. is home.

Speaking of the Mr., he’s currently off the OBX coast somewhere fishing.  I’m not super jealous at all.  I am not a fisher-woman.  I wouldn’t mind sitting on a beach with a new book right now, but Little H is playing nice with me today.  We’re having a decent amount of fun.  🙂  Since the Mr. is gone, we had to all load up and do preschool drop-off this morning.  That happened a little later than usual due to Miss Helen’s nap time.  I knew today would be a little hectic with the Mr. not reporting back for dad duty until 8-ish the evening (he left at like 2AM – somehow we were not up at the same time!).  I made a plan and a priority to get some exercise in before taking H to preschool.  I decided LAST NIGHT what I was going to do.  4 miles on the treadmill and some light stretching – I think it’s so important to make a plan!  Then again, I’m a big time planner.  It doesn’t just stop with work-outs.  I was asking Holden to help me plan out our summer fun stuff over breakfast.  His request was the zoo and Colonial Williamsburg.

After breakfast, I plugged in the treadmill and got started.  Did I really want to?  Yes and no.  I really wanted to write in my journal, put on grown-up clothes, start laundry, hang out with H, clean up the breakfast dishes (which I finally just did!)…you get the idea.  There are so many things as moms that we have to do/want to do.  It’s so hard to make your personal health (physical and mental) a priority.  I find this to be especially true when I let the dreaded G word enter the picture…guilt.  Guilt that I should be doing this, more like this…etc.  It’s so hard not to let our “to dos” overtake us.  I am plenty guilty of this.  Doing one thing at a time and writing a list of the top 5 things that need to get done that day are helpful, but what really needs to be done is letting go with the mind.  Being open to what God has for us in each day.  I know that I will be ready to take on the day (and His plans for it) better if I move in some physical way over the course of the day.

7:51 pace (4 miles)

Holden practicing his cutting while I’m running – Roscoe trying to join in

I just can’t give up ridiculous rap music when running.  I’ve tried.  #fail

I hope you get to enjoy the sunshine today (and maybe even a run/exercise of some type)!

Natalie

5 for Friday

{ONE}

Just saying no! – Over the past few weeks, the Mr. and I (not simultaneously) decided to quit coffee.  If you know me, I’ve tried this numerous times before.  Well, this time I think I’ve actually done it!  The Mr. has never tried before, but he had no problem (besides some slight crankiness) quitting.  I’ve replaced my habit with one cup of green tea.  The Mr. has been drinking one cup black tea followed by one cup green tea.  Go us!  Here is an article discussing the advantages of quitting coffee.  

Source

I just love these sweet quotes on my tea bags from Trader Joe’s.

{TWO}

Popsicles – I broke down and bought the healthiest popsicles I could find at Wal-Mart.  Lots of good reviews for these!

There don’t seem to be any fake ingredients in them, and they’re low calorie and low in sugar.  I had the strawberry and thought it was delicious!

I’ve been trying to make better dessert choices with some mixed success.  I admittedly have a HUGE sweet tooth.  I just added new recipes to my recipe binders (yes, I’m on to two large 3 ring binders!), and the majority, by far, was desserts!  Although I like popsicles, cookies and chocolate treats still are my number 1.  I’ve been trying to replace my usual dessert cravings with fruit parfaits that consists of plain yogurt, fruit, and granola.  I admit to going a bit too heavy-handed on the granola this week.  😦  Why can’t fruit be enough!?!?  The dessert struggle continues.  The item pictured below certainly just increased my chocolate cravings…

Underneath all the treats, there was a delicious vegan toasted coconut frozen yogurt.  Wow!  I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was.  It even inspired me to recreate a one dish brownie bowl that I’ve done before.  Sadly, my recipe was not as good as the time before.  A little strawberry jelly helped, but it just wasn’t like it was before.

Here’s to hopping back on the “no chocolate dessert” bandwagon!

{THREE}

I have been doing lots more running since our trip to visit family.  Not having a the gym option really got me into it.  I continued this week with one 3 mile-ish trail run.  

My shoulder is still keeping my workouts light.  I did do bicep curls, tricep kickbacks, and bent-over rows this week with 8 pound dumbbells.  This weight is way low compared to what I was doing.  My shoulder was a little stiff and sore this morning, so I guess it is more light workouts for me.  It’s a bummer to lose muscle you worked hard to acquire, but I know that I can gradually increase again.

Here are some core moves for runners that I’ve been trying out…

Source

Here are some great shoulder stretchers…

Source

{FOUR}

Wedding Bells – My sister is getting married!  Well, it is sort-of old news, but it is getting closer which means the excitement is building.  I asked for some official duties {besides my day-of matron of honor duties} to assist with planning, and I got assigned some “look this up on the internet” jobs.  Gladly!  I found these cute tags to possibly tie to favors on Etsy.

Aren’t they perfect for her Charleston, SC wedding?!?!?!  I’ll spare you all the other poor quality pictures that I texted to her.  Needless to say I was consumed with scouring the internet for about an hour that day!  You can see by my tabs at the top of the picture that I was also doing some online window shopping for Roscoe P.  I’m thinking about getting him a new collar/leash/harness.  This guy has literally had one collar for about a million years!  It’s looking a little worn, and I thought maybe a little early birthday present {his birthday is in November – always overshadowed by Thanksgiving 😉 }for him.  He puts up with a lot.  We love him so!

Here Roscoe is being a good sport again and wearing H’s T-shirt yesterday afternoon.

No animals were harmed in the photography session, lol!

{FIVE}

Words to Inspire –

Source

Have a great Friday and a weekend full of fun and family!

Natalie

It’s in the 90s, feels like 100s…let’s go running!

Hi there!  If you’re like me, today has been a sweaty/hot one!  Holden goes to daycare on Tuesdays this summer, so I took advantage of my kid-less time and went to First Landing, our local state park, which boasts both trails and beach access.  Love that place!  I decided to do a five mile run.  At 8 o’clock, it was about 85ish degrees.  The humidity was insane!  I told the Mr. it was like running while breathing in oven air.  Like an oven that is preheating…maybe not 350 degrees yet but definitely preheating!  😉

This picture does NO justice to the amount of sweat I was producing.  Have you ever seen the pores on your legs sweat?  Not pretty.

I did my post-run stretching by this beauty of a tree.

I could have gone to the gym.  No shame in the gym treadmill game.  However, there is just nothing that will be a perfect substitution for a hard {physically as well as mentally} run that forces every thought from your mind beside this one – “I may have lost my mind trying to run this today, and I may die/pass out/embarrass myself by vomiting very soon.”  My mind has been far, far too busy, so I was totally okay with torturing myself on this hottest day yet this year.  Just like I thought-all thoughts were banished.  My iPod on shuffle did its job and presented just the songs {with the messages} I needed to hear.  I’m sure everyone has that one thing they do to find some solace and wisdom in this life.  For me, I have to physically exhaust myself to allow my brain to switch off and be open.  What thing(s) do you do to help yourself de-stress, find peace, or perhaps just scare other people with your craziness?  🙂

After that “fun,” I relaxed and journaled a whole heck of a lot.  Then, I consumed a massive amount of sautéed kale and salmon aka leftovers while watching “The Doctors.”  Note:  This NEVER happens when Holden is around.  I compulsively eat in front of the TV or computer when he’s not around.  What can I say?  He makes me live a better/ more adult-like life.

Cleaning was next on the list.  I’m currently procrastinating the last two rooms.  Roscoe the dog was useless, and I plan to fire him as my assistant.  It’s too hot to send him packing today.  Plus, he’s so cute and such a good cuddler.  I guess I’ll keep the lazy thing.

Off to pick up the mini Mr.!  Stay cool {in numerous ways, duh!}.

5 for Friday

Well, I’ve certainly been MIA this week!  The end of the school year is its own breed of crazy, and {true to form} this next-to-last week has been a doozy.  There is no rhyme or reason to what I’m about to share.  Just laying it out there for ya!  5 “things” on my mind this week…

{ONE}

Job Shifts – There may be a bit of shuffle at my school of the teachers, and I’m one up for a potential change.  Wow, this is always hard for me.  It’s really the up-in-the-air-ness nature of that gets to me.  I start planning in my head how next school year will look, but guess what?  It changes.  Yikes.  As a planner and a concrete thinker, I struggle to just let go and “not worry about it.”  I’m getting lots of practice at this right now.  My number one kinds of leads into number two…

{TWO}

Running – Oh my dear friend.  I always come back to running when I’m worried/stressed/overwrought/______  fill in any emotional crisis.  This past Wednesday was also National Running Day.  Although I didn’t get to run on the actual day, I did enjoy a 4 mile-ish run plus a 1 mile jog with Roscadoo on Tuesday.  I was all excited about head out at about 5 this morning only to be greeted by a nice, steady downpour.  No run for me.  I wasn’t feeling the treadmill option, so I did a little elliptical work and watched really bad music videos on MTV.  I forgot all about MTV’s music videos!  

Quite a lovely look, huh?!?!

{THREE}

Organization – I’ve been getting excited {very dorky, I know} about some organization projects that I plan to work on this summer.  I really have a few areas of the house that are tucked away from the main thoroughfare that could use some decluttering and organization.  One problem area is Holden’s toy storage.  I order a shelf system for him from Target this past weekend that I ended up paying eleven dollars for.  I had twenty dollars in gift cards from Teacher Appreciation Week, and I used a special promo code they had for organizational system {I think a code to get those college freshman buying stuff!}.  I got free shipping due to my Red Card.

Buy here

We got this except it was a dark cherry.  We also laid it down the long way for better access for H.  I plan on picking up three fabric cubes for storing his do-dads.

{FOUR}

I needed a laugh tonight and looked up an old favorite – Ron Burgundy!  Did you see Anchorman back in 2004?  I remember nearly peeing my pants at the theater, but I was literally the only one busting a gut laughing at it!  Check out this funny clip from it.  Have you seen the sequel?  Watching these clips made me want to see it.  I looked it up, and our local library has it.  Even if it’s a little cheesy, sometimes a cheesy laugh is exactly what you need.  🙂

{FIVE}

Once summer gets here, I tend to spend even less time dealing with my hair.  My curly-by-nature hair comes out big time!  I’m just about out of my Herbal Instincts mouse that I typically use to “scrunch” my hair, so I’m on the look-out for a new, inexpensive product to help define my curls without making it look greasy or weighed down.  But…I want something “natural” as well that doesn’t seem like a ton of bad chemicals are going into my hair.  Oh the dilemmas of being female!  I found this site that gave me some ideas.  I’d really like to make a trip out to pick up some product at Whole Foods that will do the trick.  Nobody got time for a hair dryer!  Summer is hot enough already!

Well, there you go!  The randoms on my mind this Friday eve!