How Cool Is That? 3 for Thursday

How cool is this ice tray? It makes teeny tiny ice cubes, perfect for water bottles.  Although this morning I ran out of ice for my iced coffee, so I had to use an entire tray.

Mike's Uncle who lives in Colorado sent me a donation this week for The Children's Tumor Foundation.  In his card he wrote that his city councilman is the Top High Altitude Runner in the world!  How cool is that?

Today I'm going to pull off two workouts, one run, then one swim.  I ran my first two miles since I hurt my foot on Tuesday, and it went well, although later on, oddly enough it was my knee that felt sore, not my foot.  I'm sure it's from the orthotics, but I woke up during the night and freaked out a bit about my body falling apart and not being able to do any of my races for the rest of the year.  On a better note, I'm more comfortable with my swimming.  I've worked out a deal with the kids so I can swim my laps when we got to the pool in the afternoon.  We get there 20 minutes before adult swim, then L&E sit on the chairs with books or their DS, and I swim for about 25 minutes.  It will have to do until the weekends, when I can swim for longer sessions.  How cool is that? 


Don't forget my Gotein giveaway!  You can find it HERE.



Happy Fourth of July Weekend!  Hope you get to see some of these.....

Monday Check in, and Gotein Giveaway

Whose bright idea was it to weigh in on Monday mornings? 

We took a quick trip down to Westchester this weekend to see my sister Meg and her family, to celebrate my niece Juliet's 2nd birthday, which was a great time.   My sister is expecting her third baby girl, and this is us next to the baby pool, before presents were opened, and I put together a Beauty and the Beast tea cart. I was a sweaty mess:

Once again the weekend was full of food, burgers, dogs, salads, wine.  I skipped the birthday cake, but I had a small chocolate chip cookie, and for breakfast I ate a slice of my Aunt Linda's Irish Soda Bread, which is a sin to say No to. 

It was time to get on scale today.....it showed no gain, but no loss either.  From what I've read on twitter and in comments, and from my brother in law, the consensus is that whatever weight you gained over the weekend shows up on Monday, but by Wednesday that gain is gone.

Maybe we should have stuck with Wednesday Weigh In.

I've entered a few Gotein giveaways recently, so I was psyched when Gotein contacted me to do a review and giveaway!  If you aren't familiar, it's a portable protein powder, with 16 grams of protein, 110 calories or less per serving, and only 6 grams or less of carbs.  You add it to 2/3 of a 16.9 oz bottle of water, shake it up, and drink it down!

Gotein helps to refuel the body after a workout, it can also be used as a meal replacement along with a piece of fruit, and it's the perfect high protein snack for "on-the-go Moms." Ding Ding Ding!!! Sounds like me: )

I tried the vanilla flavor while we were in the car this weekend, it was easy to use, I just pulled a water bottle out of the cooler, and mixed it up. 

This morning I decided to use it as a meal, along with an apple and coffee.  I chose chocolate (my fave) and this time I only used 8 oz of water, to make a thicker consistency, and with less water, it was sweeter.  It kept me full through a couple of hours of unpacking, taking the kids and Frank for a walk, then  to swim lessons. 

Would you like to try Gotein yourself???

Here's how to enter: 

like Gotein on facebook here, and tell them that I sent you.

for extra entries (please leave a separate comment for each):

    - tell me what you like to nosh on while on a road trip
    - be a friend of my blog
    - spread the word about the giveway any way you'd like


I'll choose a winner on Monday July 4th!

Five for Fri-day, Summer edition

1. You know what's gross?  When you take the dog for a walk, he does his business, you pick it up with a plastic bag, and as you tie it closed, the bag breaks, and as the contents fall out, you jump back in surprise, and your foot lands on one of the three piles.  And you're wearing birkenstocks. Without socks.

2. There's something to this "getting used to the orthotics before you run" thing.  It is day three, and today I can wear them for three hours.  My arches are a bit sore, and surprisingly, so are my hamstrings, which is where I have issues.  So my optimism level is higher now than it was earlier in the week!

3. It's a good thing I looked at the calendar last night.  I have to start Marathon training in two weeks!  I'm going to follow the same 18 week plan that I used for my first marathon, it's the Boston training plan that my friend C followed when she ran Boston.  I start right after Fourth of July Weekend. Yikes!!

4. The first thing I did this morning was put on my bathing suit.  School ended Wednesday, and we are finally in full on summer mode.  Yesterday we kicked it off with a visit to the doctor for yearly physicals (I like to get it out of the way), followed by a trip to the library, where we cleaned them out of about 100 books.  I love it when you walk into the library, and the first thing you see is a new release sitting on the shelf by one of your favorite authors.  I snagged a copy of Silver Girl, by Elin Hilderbrand. Her book titles are really sappy, but they're page turners.  We ended the day at the pool, where I actually got a chance to swim a decent amount of laps.  Dinner was outside on the newly bee-free deck, and all was well.

5. Speaking of pools, what do you swimmers use to get the chlorine out of your hair?  I color my hair, so I'm afraid to use a clarifying shampoo, I need to keep the color on my greys : )

Happy Weekend!!

Did I mention my nickname is Sasquatch?

It's a good day when you pick up your custom orthotics. 

And an even better day when you buy new running shoes.

And instead of being frustrated that I can't try them both out today, I'm going to be positive, since that day will soon come.

Here is a photo of my orthotics, the new ones are on the left, and they feel pretty good. I wanted to try them out with a short run this afternoon, but the Doc said I need to ease into wearing them.  Which means an hour today, two hours tomorrow, and so on.  Once I have them on for a full day, then I can ease into running in them.  Right now I feel like a horse at the racetrack, rarin' to go, but I'll be good, and follow orders.  Although I'm getting even more nervous about the Boilermaker 15k, it's coming up fast and I'm paranoid about my level of fitness right now.

But a trip to Fleet Feet calmed me down, I was due for a new pair of running shoes, and after trying on a few other styles and brands, I ended up with the Brooks Adrenaline again.  But in a bigger size:

Yup, I'm up half a size to an 11.5.  My left foot is larger than the right, and the toe box seemed tighter on that foot, so I went with these. 

I've had a couple of nick names in relation to my height and shoe size, "Molly Boats" was one (get it, my feet are the size of boats?) as well as "Sasquatch".  That was my nick name in college, given to me by my friend Lori. 

Ever hear that Pearl Jam song "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town?" 

There's a line that goes: "perhaps that's what, no one wants to see?"

If you sing it quickly, it sound's like "But that's Sasquatch, do you want to see??"

That would set Lori off, especially if we were in the bar and it came on the jukebox.



Thanks to everyone who entered my SCAPE giveaway.....I used random.org to choose the winner, and it is Jeff, at Jeff Vanis' Blog!  Congrats : )


Now let's close with a bit of Pearl Jam.......I heart Eddie Vedder.

Family + Food + Weekend = sucky Monday weigh in

So I was really looking forward to date night, for the usual reasons.  But after my action packed Friday, I was reeeeealy looking forward to date night.

I was zipping around Friday afternoon, hitting up a few stores, getting my errands done.  I had two hours to shop before Luke came home from school.  There was a sale on lobsters at one store, Mike wanted to make lobster rolls for dinner, and to have for his Mom and Dad to have for dinner on Saturday, since they were going to watch the kids.  I bought $50 worth of lobsters, put them in the Jeep, and walked over to Petsmart to buy dog food.  We looked at the animals, and dog toys, then went to the food aisle.  There was a display of coupons next to the food, so I grabbed one, then hauled the 34 pound bag of food into the cart.  We go through check out, back the the Jeep, and look for my keys in my purse. I look under the Jeep. I look in the cart. Dump out my purse. No keys.  It's a warm afternoon, the windows of the Jeep are closed, the lobsters are inside. 

I re-trace my steps, ask the Customer Service people at the stores if they found any keys.  I call Mike, Eliza and I sit in the parking lot next to the dog food, I braid her hair, and worry that we're not going to get home in time for Luke.  Mike arrives with the spare keys, picks up E and the lobsters, and I re-trace my steps, for the third time.  Give my number to the stores I was in, and head home.  Very bummed because I have a Coach keychain on my set, with a picture of each of the kids when they were babies, which has huge sentimental value.

Petsmart calls a couple hours later, they found my keys on a shelf above the dog food.  I put them there when was grabbing that coupon for free Beggin' Strips.  Whew.

I go outside to tell Mike about the keys, Luke is horsing around with Frank the dog, and the next thing we know Luke trips over Frank, and goes face first into the side of the house.  Blood starts coming out of his mouth, he already lost one tooth from a fall several years ago, so we fear the worst.  Blood stops after a bit, and all is well.

I  feed the kids, get them cleaned up and ready for bed.  They go outside on the deck to talk to Mike for a bit, and I start folding laundry on the dining room table, and I can see them playing through the window.  All of a sudden, Eliza starts shrieking, and slapping at her face and legs, I run out and grab her, she was being stung by bees.  Poor kid, she was stung on her eye, her finger, and her leg.  

We sat her down with ice packs, and I called the Doctor, if you have a severe reaction, it will happen within 20 minutes of being stung, but it can take up to 2 hours.  She was stung once before and didn't have a reaction, but the Doc said that didn't mean that she wasn't allergic, this time we would know for sure.  We gave her some tylenol, but she couldn't go to bed until the 2 hour window had passed, so we put Tangled on for the fiftieth time.  After a while she settled down, and thankfully didn't have any issues.

Then Mike came in for my bottle of hairspray, he found a bees nest under the deck, right where E was standing, so he tried to fire bomb it. Luckily we already have the pest control people coming this week to spray the house......for bees.

By Saturday, I was more than ready for a Dirty Martini.

But first we had Luke's final soccer game.

Then Mike's Mom and Dad arrived to hang out with the kids, so we put on grown up clothes and headed down to Skaneateles.

I went with the blue dress, that choice won by a landslide.

Dinner was great, the restaurant is a part of a spa, so along with the usual steaks and fish, they have spa choices.  We started with a beet salad (healthy choice), tuna poke (healthy choice), and escargot on a bit of puff pastry (semi-healthy choice).  I chose the fish cooked "aqua pazzo" style, it was clams, shrimp and white fish poached with herbs, vegetables, olives and lemon (super duper healthy spa menu choice).  Mike went with the filet, with a side of fresh local oyster mushrooms (sooo good), and a side of frites (dangerously good).  Of course I sampled his meal, and ate more than my share of mushrooms, and um frites.

The next day we had Mike's family over for a Father's Day breakfast, which meant more food, bagles, danish and one of those breakfast casseroles made with eggs, cheese, bread and sausage. 

So I shouldn't have been surprised to see at weigh in this morning that I gained 2 pounds, that's how it goes after a weekend like that.  My activity level is still not where I want it to be, I took Frank for a long walk on Saturday, and I ran a bit (don't tell my podiatrist) with him to wear him out, my foot felt okay so that made me happy.  Still no orthotics though. : ( 

I hope everyone else had success this past week!   When eating out, are you super strict?  Or do you allow yourself to eat foods that you would consider a treat?

It's Monday, a new week, another chance to get back on track, Good Luck! : )

Oh what to wear.

Yesterday was such a fun day. 

I had to go to Rochester, to pick up my engagement ring, at some point I smacked it on something and cracked the setting.  We were living in Rochester when we got married, so we bought our rings there, which made sense, but now I have to make the drive out there from Syracuse if I need something done to them.

There's a great museum in Rochester, the Strong National Museum of Play, and we've only been a couple of times, I figured it would be quiet on a Thursday, before school is out, so I let Luke play hookey, and off we went.   We were there for over three hours, and had a blast, here are the kiddos on the Sesame Street exhibit:

Mike and I have a date night planned for Saturday, which I'm excited for, we usually only have these nights to celebrate our birthdays and Anniversary.  Mike is a huge fan of Groupon, at one point it was getting a bit extreme, like the time he bought an assortment of cookies for $17 that normally went for $45....but they were really good cookies.

At any rate, we're going down to Skaneateles Lake, which is about 40 minutes from here, but it's such a pretty lakeside town, that it makes you feel like you're much farther from home.  Mike scored a groupon to Mirbeau, we've never been, and I'm debating on what to wear.  I don't think I can get away with wearing jeans, or my pink Boilermaker sweatpants. 

These are my choices:

                 I love this blue dress, but the fabric has a shimmer to it, so it might be too dressy:

Eliza wanted to take my picture, so the rest of these were taken by my four year old:

This one might work, it's more of a summer night by the lake type dress

This wrap dress is super comfy, but the black might be better suited for winter:

Or I could bag the whole dress idea, and go with black pants and a cute top:

Well, what's your vote?!?!?! 

HAPPY WEEKEND!





The postal service came through! and a SCAPE giveaway!

I think it was back in March, when I found an envelope from Stefano, the Black Knight in my mailbox.  He had sent me a keychain from Venice, but somewhere along the way, someone opened the envelope, and decided to take it for themselves.  Boooooo!!!

However, I was very happy yesterday, because I received another envelope from Stefano, and this time.......ding ding ding! Success! 

Stefano sent me another keychain, this time from his trip to Brussels, along with a kind note and DVD that shows the seaport where he works.  I had to laugh when I saw the keychain, it's a depiction of the Manneken Pis, a statue of a little boy peeing into the water below him.  Mike and I actually had dinner not to far from the statue during our visit to Brussels several years ago. 

Brussels has really good Belgian Waffles:

And now.....giveaway time!!!

May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month.  It is now June, but that's no excuse, you need to wear sunblock every, single, day, 90% of skin cancers are caused by sun exposure, and 1 in 5 people will develop skin cancer in their lifetime.  Scary.

I wear sunblock, but my issues are that it either makes me break out, or when I sweat or swim, it drips into my eyes, which is never fun. 

This is where SCAPE comes in.  It was developed by Dr. Nic Martens, a Triathlete and surfer, who knew exactly what athletes needed when it comes to skin protection.  SCAPE is waterproof, sweatproof, and noncomedogenic (no breakouts!). 

 

I first started using SCAPE last summer, during all my hot, outdoor marathon training runs.  I used the SPF 30 Athlete Sunblock on my body, and for my face, I protected it with the Lip Balm, and the SPF 50 Face Stick.  I loved the stick, I would use it like a magic marker, and swipe it along my hairline, forehead, down my nose, and under my eyes.  It never ran, and I didn't burn.

This is an interesting point, when I used the lotion on my body, I felt like my skin didn't get as hot as it would have without the lotion.  As I read more about the product, I learned that SCAPE helps the skin breathe, it prevents dehydration, and as a result, your body temperature stays regulated while being active.  

So for today's giveaway to benefit The Children's Tumor Foundation, I have a SCAPE Moisturizing Face Stick, SPF 50, along with a bunch of sachets of the SPF 50 lotion, which are perfect for keeping in your car, purse, or gym bag. 

To enter:

1. please go to my fundraising page here, and make a dontion. Thank you : )

2. if you have already donated, THANK YOU, you get extra entries!

3. be a friend of my blog, or follow me on twitter

4. like SCAPE on facebook here, or on twitter here

I'll choose a winner using random.org, on Wednesday, June 22nd.

Use your sunblock!!!!!!

So here's where I am

Don't you love it when you write a whole post, and are about to hit Publish, then the whole thing disappears on you?  I sure do.

This weekend I thought of my training, or my lack thereof. 

My 15k is in four weeks.  I'm hoping my orthotics are ready by Thursday, this lack of running is making me ner-vous. 

My Sprint Tri is in eight weeks.  I picked up my bike Friday, and it feels great, all cleaned up, the seat is in the right position (the side of my knee has been bugging me, and I think my seat height was the culprit) and the tires are sleeker than they were.  I already feel faster.

The swimming, however, it's happening as much as I want it to.  The pool was closed for the second weekend in a row, due to a filter malfunction.  I've been hearing more details about the lake where the Tri is going to be held, apparently it's very shallow, but the swim itself goes by fast because you have to run a bit to reach deeper water.  What I'm not so stoked about, are the razor mussels that live in that lake, a friend of mine cut her feet up pretty good when she raced last year.  So I've got to look for some kind of water shoe to deal with those suckers.

My strength work is going well, I don't belong to a gym, so my living room is my gym.  As is my kitchen counter, can you see the air between the counter and my body?  This is a great move for your core, and arms.  Speaking of my core, I'm made friends with Planks, only because I'm seeing progress, I can hold for 60 seconds now, instead of 30, and I can do 5 sets now, instead of, um, one.

Today is Weigh In Monday, I'm exactly where I thought I was.  The weekend was a test, mainly because Mike brought home bread from Pastabilities, one black pepper loaf, and one made of bleu cheese and onion.  Thanks Mike.  But he also brought home some lovely fresh strawberries:

This week my goal is to eat really clean, no stealing chips from Mike's snack, or taking a bite of his cookie.  Mike is one of those types who loses 10 pounds in a week when he gets a cold, then keeps it off, even though he snacks.  So when he breaks out the Lays bag, I'm going to look the other way. 

What is your goal for the week????  What do you find distracting when trying to eat right??


Tomorrow I'll post another giveaway, Thank You for the donations I received last week to The Children's Tumor Foundation!!!!! 

The winner of the RoadID (I used random.org to pick the winner) was number 13, Mandy from Caratunk Girl!!

Congrats!!!!

Round two! (and 5 for Friday)

It looks like Weight Loss Challenge, Part Two is on!

Ready for the details?

This time around, we'll weigh in on Monday's.  So that means you have to be especially good on the weekends, which for me, is where I struggle.

Start date is this Monday, June 13th. 

End date: Monday July 18th. 

My personal goal?  A five pound weight loss in those five weeks.  That will get me to my ideal race weight.

Your goal? It sounds like those of you who are interested are looking to lose about the same amount of poundage.

The benefit of this challenge? Support!

Each week at check in, I will post what I had success with, and/or struggled with, as well as my plan for the following week.    I'll look to the comments to see how you did that week, and if there is something that you tell me that might be helpful to others in the challenge, I'll post that info the following week.

If you're in, then make sure to comment on Monday's post!


Now, my Five for Friday:

1. My bike is ready, so I'm heading out to pick it up this afternoon. I was talking to my sis-in law/running partner Jeannine the other night, and we were talking about going for a ride together sometime soon.  It's so funny to talk about riding instead of running. 

2. I have a new favorite afternoon snack, it's a handful of almonds, dried cherries, and semi-sweet mini chocolate chips.  It's a crunchy/chewy/sweet combo that is delish.

3. I had a Stella & Dot jewelry party last week at my house, it was so nice to have a night off during the week, with just the girls.  I made my Mom's champagne punch (2 bottles of champagne, a 2 liter of 7-up, and a tub of rainbow sherbet), there was a moment when it started to look like a science experiment, and I thought it was going to completely fizz over onto the table, but I scooped some of the sherbet out, and it was all good.  

4. I haven't posted about Frank in a while, this is where I find him every night about 15 minutes after I put the kids to bed.  He constantly tries to sneak upstairs to sleep in their beds with them. 

5.  I have a RoadID giveaway going on, so if you haven't see that yet, check it out here!

Happy Weekend!

Who's down for another round?

No bike in the garage, and no running allowed, so what did I do today? 

Took Eliza to the pool.  I couldn't do a lap swim since it was just the two of us, so instead, I swam circles around one section of the pool while keeping an eye on E while she played mermaid with another little girl, with periodic stops to catch her as she practiced jumping off the side of the pool.

I swam as close as I could get to a butterfly stroke, on and off for over an hour, so I think that kind of counts as a workout.

Maybe.

We had grilled shrimp and rice (and um, salsa. I'm still obsessed) the other night for dinner, I forget that I really enjoy shrimp cooked on the grill, with just a light coating of olive oil and salt and pepper.  I couldn't look at shrimp when I was pregnant with Eliza, and I still can't eat shrimp cocktail, or have it mixed into a pasta dish.  But shrimp with that smoky grill flavor? sign me up.

Anyone interested in continuing the weight loss challenge?  Heather and I lost about the same amount of weight, and we would  both like to lose another 4 pounds, so we're thinking of doing one more round of the challenge.  We're kicking around the details, and the end date, but I'm putting it out there because I had some interest from other bloggers. 

So let me know if you want in, and we'll get it going!



The Time I Went To The Bike Shop & Mega Winner

Last night after dinner, I told Mike I was going to take my mountain bike to the shop today, for a tune up and new road tires.  Then he said maybe next year I could get a new bike, since, knowing me, I'm most likely going to get into triathlons after IronGirl.  How funny is that?

There are two bike shops about a half hour from my house, I'd never been to either of them, so I thought I would take a ride to check them out.  I also wanted to comparison shop a bit, and just shop in general.  So I hauled my bike into the Jeep, got Eliza into her booster seat, and we were off.

We arrived at the first store, I told the salesguy what I was looking for, and while I waited to see some tires, I checked out their goods, to my pleasant surprise they had a whole display of nuun, including the new flavors.  He came back out with two tire choices, one set looked similar to what I already have, for $15 a tire, the other set was sleeker, at $29 a tire.  With a tune up and the charge to put on the tires, I would have spent over $135.  I told him I'd think about it.

Put my bike back in the Jeep, and decided to go over to the other bike store, which was very close to the first one.  I thought it was kind of rare to have two so close together, but it worked out to my advantage so I could compare the two.  Store number two had a large service department, and I could picture the people working there actually riding the bikes they were selling.  Again they brought out two tire sets, the $30 tire didn't look as thin as the $29 tire in the first store, but it had some kind of puncture resistant feature.  I asked some questions, and learned that it's not the width of the tire that makes your ride faster, it's the tire pressure.  I took a closer look at the tire, and he was mistaken about the price, the tag read $20, not $30, so I decided to go with them.  Even with the tune up, I ended up spending less at the second shop, and I liked the vibe there better anyway.  My bike will be ready on Thursday, which I thought was pretty good. 



This is my 400th post.  I was thinking earlier about how many fabulous people I've connected with through blogging, people I would never have met otherwise.  I even tell Mike and some of my friends about some of you, about the things that happen in your lives, the major goals and milestones you've accomplished.  I do appreciate the advice I've receive through comments, and the inspiration I get from reading your blogs. 

I also want to say Thank You for the donations made to Children's Tumor Foundation.  I honestly didn't know what to expect when I put the link to my fundraising page on my sidebar, and I really, truly appreciate it.  Thank you.

I picked the winner of my Mega Giveaway, by using random.org, I have a print screen of it, but I think those are boring to look at so I left it out of the post.   A couple of people who entered were able to get over 17 entries!  I was really excited to see who won, because she's a Mom of 12 children, and she's also running NYC this year, as a part of Team MEB, so we're hoping to meet up race weekend.....congrats to Erin at See Mom Run Far!!!

Could you do this? And Giveaway Monday...

I had to share this photo and story, it's about four runners who ran the God's County Marathon in Pennsylvania this weekend, tethered together with a 12 foot rope!!! They beat the previous record for this feat by 12 minutes and might be Guiness Book of World Record holders.  And the very cool thing is, one of the runners is my friend Brad!!! Go BW!!!!

Can you imagine staying the same pace as four others the entire 26.2?? Love it.



There is one day left in my Mega Giveaway, but in the meantime, I'm going to declare today as Giveaway Monday.  I reached out to various vendors to help me hold giveaways to benefit The Children's Tumor Foundation.  Instead of holding another Mega Giveaway, I figured I would do one item per week.  So without further ado, here is the first one:

Do you have a RoadID?  I didn't for a long time, which wasn't the smartest thing. For the most part I run in my neighborhood, and if I go longer distances I'm usually with friends or a group.   But that doesn't matter, even with friends, accidents happen, and the more info you can give when help arrives, the better.

I now have the Sport ID, in a cheery shade of pink.  At first I didn't want to put another thing on my wrist, but it's a lightweight band, with two reflective strips to help keep you visible in the dark.  I wear it on my right wrist, with G-unit on my left, so now I feel balanced  : )

It was easy to order, I just typed in the info I wanted to include on the band which is the year I was born, the town and state I live in, Mike's phone number, my sis in laws phone number, and my blood type (I'm O neg, universal donor, in case you need some).  I also put a little line of inspiration, which comes from Yo Gabba Gabba.......Don't Stop. Don't Give Up.

I've worn it on several bike rides, and on two runs, and it's a comfy addition to my running gear.

Would you like a RoadID of your very own?  Well, here's how to get one, please leave a separate comment for each:

1. Be a Friend of my blog
2. Make a donation of any amount (even $1!) to my fundraising page for Children's Tumor foundation, HERE.
3. extra entries if you have already donated (Thank You Again!!!)
4. tweet, blog or facebook this giveaway
5. like RoadID on twitter here or  facebook here

I'll choose a winner using random.org on Monday June 13th.


Note, I was provided with a RoadID for the purpose of this review, the opinions on the product are my own.

Do You Know What This Is?

Do you know what these are?

They are molds of my feet. I had inserts made seven years ago, and for some reason the Doctor gave them to me and I kept them.  I had new ones made yesterday at my new podiatrist, for my running shoe inserts.  Still no running until I get them.....in three weeks.

Do you know what this is?

What's left of our patio umbrella.  We brought it onto the deck when Mike was grilling in the rain.  We had a very windy day Wednesday, and the wind blew it up, and smashed it into the deck railing. Crunch.


Have you seen this book?

It's hilarious.  Mike read about it online, and my friends are all talking about it.  It's a book for adults, made to look like a children's book of poems, but the point of the poems is that the child won't go the F&#$ to bed.  If you have kids, you'll love it.

Do you know what this is?

It's a website called Breadfish that my teen aged nephew showed me.  You click on it, and all it is are a bunch of fish swimming to a song called Breadfish.  At first I thought it was stupid, but now I turn it on and the kids and I sing along with it.


I know you know what this is:

THANK YOU to everyone who voted for my blog on Circle of Mom's! I made the cut, and I'm part of the great group of Mom Bloggers on the Top 25 list!


There are a few days left to enter my giveaway here where you can win the following:

Please check it out here, your entry will benefit:

National Running Day! (and, final weigh in)

I'm so happy that the weather has changed.  It was 94 degrees yesterday, and this morning I'm wearing my favorite $5 skirt from Old Navy, which I would wear every day if I could.  Over the weekend I had a bunch of "Firsts" of Summer, first iced coffee, first clams on the grill, first time beach towels were drying on the deck, first mosquito bites.  It was lovely.

Can you see my patchy sunburn?  I used a spray sunscreen for the first time while we were at the lake yesterday (hey, another first!), it worked great for the kids, but I need to stick to lotion for myself.

Yes, today is National Running Day, but no running for me. I do need to run around today and tackle my huge To Do List, and tomorrow I go back to the podiatrist to have an impression made of my feet for my orthotics.  I'm still secretly hoping I can run my 5k on Saturday, so we'll see what the Doc says tomorrow.

Today is also the Final Weigh In for my weight loss challenge.  I did a happy dance around my scale, I'm down 2 pounds from last week, for a grand total of 6 pounds.  My weight loss goal was 10 pounds, as was my friend Heather's.  We talked about doing another challenge, because she didn't reach 10 pounds either, and we both want to get to that point.  I'll let you know what the plan is, but I'm hoping everyone else had some weight loss. I know one person in particular probably won the whole thing, so we'll see what you say in the comments!

AH! And I have the winner of my Wrightsocks giveaway....I was watching The Real Housewives of NYC while resting my foot, and the photo was a picture of Jill Zarin on my television.  I used random.org to pick a winner out of the correct answers, and it is Laura!  Send me an email with your address, congrats!