Weekend Re-Cap / Life is Back to Normal

Happy Monday to everyone!  I hope it's been a kind one!

I kind of feel a little pressure to get our life, house, errands etc back on track this week.  We have been gone every single weekend this month!  Two of those weekends were not planned either.  With all the unexpected travel I haven't done "real" grocery shopping in a very long time.  Nor have I made dentists appointments, Dr. appointments, cleaned the house...you get the idea.  I have been doing the minimum to keep things going (unpacking doing laundry and repacking over and over) and getting my training runs done, and as a result it's all caught up with us now.

I sort of love being home though and doing the normal every stuff, and it feels good to be getting back to normal and getting things done!  

I finally had time for a hair cut last week and boy oh boy was I over due!  It may not look a ton different, but the real beauty of this cut is when I let it air dry...it's has the perfect, no effort beach waves cut into the style, so it looks amazing with zero effort!  (We won't talk about the fact that I got rear ended again on the way to the hair cut...thankfully Sky and I are fine!  Thankfully it's wasn't more serious because they hit us and took off...karma...that's all I have to say).

This is the blown out version of the below style/pic my stylist worked off of!  Once again El did an amazing job, and was able to take all the heavy stuff off thankfully!

I let it air dry camping, and it looks pretty great if I do say so myself!  El get's all the credit, she's the one that makes it look good!

Friday started with my last "real" run before race day.  I got up and got 8 miles in and felt great doing it!  This week I have two 3 mile runs planned and then I'm resting until Sat.  Saturday races feel strange to me, but it's kinda nice to have Sunday to lay around and recover.

After that it was time for a weekend of camping on the coast.  It's always dicey camping on the WA Coast even in the summer, but we got so lucky with clear sunny days and a slight breeze that was perfect for keeping it from getting to hot!

 Sky and I waited around for Mark to finish work for the day and she was so over the top excited when it was finally time to get to camping!  This girl loves camping!  Out of the blue, twice today, she has said "Thank you mommy for the camping"!

 Climbing trees!  

 We were so not prepared for her to play in the ocean, we had no extra clothes, nor did we have any of the dishes/silverware needed for lunch either, but we made it work and had a lovely lunch on the beach!

Watching the kiddos play in the waves, I could do this all day!

 The girls coloring in trailer.  It's nice that each family has a trailer because the kids end up in one, usually ours since it's smaller and less stuff to get into, and the adults can visit in the other one, but with both doors open and facing each other we always know what they are up to.

 She wakes up super cuddly when we are camping!

Who's walking who?

Thankfully Michelle's Mom came up to camp and watched the kiddo's so we could sneak away for wine tasting and silliness at The Westport Winery.  If you are ever in the area check them out!  One of the few that let's you wander the grounds at will, and they set up ton's of outdoor seating, games, and entertainment to enjoy while strolling the vineyards drinking wine. 

The sunset was really amazing!

 My two favorite people taking a sunset walk. 

Sadly that glass of wine ended up getting kicked out of my hand, down the front of me, and (I have no idea how this happened) all down the inside as well.  I had wine in my belly button.  I was not a happy camper, mostly because I was worried about getting the wine out.  I ended up having to toss a few items, but the rest washed out with some Wine Away.  I learned that Wine Away needs to be a staple in the camping trailer, and not to drink and snuggle with a tired 3 year old at the same time.

Michelle and I enjoying the sunset.

This trip was timed perfectly!  This month has been crazy with travel, car issues, getting hit twice, Grandpa passing, the stress of trying to potty train a tot that want's nothing to do with it yet must be potty trained before pre-school starts, being away from home every weekend (I really like being home!) among other things.  It all sort of hit me, and getting away with good friends for the weekend and just relaxing and having fun was exactly what I needed.  I feel recharged and ready to take on the rest of summer! 

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How do you recharge when life gets crazy?

Weekend Awesomeness!

We had a pretty much awesome weekend.  Well...actually Sky and I had an awesome weekend, while Mark unfortunately found more to do projects around the house.  I guess it's ok timing since the master bath is almost done, so he needed a new project right?

Let's just say finding rotting support beams under the deck was not the high point of the weekend for him.  :-/  The joys of being a home owner, the projects just never ever, ever end.   

On to the good stuff!  It started with a Sassy new hair cut!!! 

Thanks to Eleanor this is the smoothest and most stylish grow-out I have ever gone through!  Love this cut, and I can see the end result in the near'ish future and am loving it!

It got even better when I found out Michelle registered for the St. P day 5K, which means we get to run it together!!!  Since I PR'd the Santa Run I'm going to wait and make the 2014 Santa Run my next 5K PR attempt.  I'm saving St. P Day 5K for fun, sparkly cute skirts, and running with my Irish best friend!  It's only fitting! 

My trusty adidas energy Boost got me through 5 Mile Drive!

 

I don't bail on runs with friends, or on myself (for the most part) for that matter.  But, having said that I still feel like every run has the potential to not happen until I lace up the shoes.  Once I have the shoes on my feet I start thinking about how amazing it's going to feel to pound out some miles, and how great breakfast is going to taste when I get home.  The shoes are the magic go button for me! 

Saturday morning Michelle and I hit up 5 Mile Drive for a good butt kicking run!  5 Mile Drive always make me nervous, and it's not because the bathrooms are closed this time of year (ok maybe it is), it's because it's a for real run with challenging hills and even on a "I feel like I can run fast and forever" day it's still harder than anything else I run.  I always feel kind of bad a$$ when I don't drop to my knees at the finish.

After starting the weekend with a good hill workout of a run the rest of the weekend was all about stretching, foam rolling, relaxing and having fun with the babe (after he finished installing the faucets in the master bath) and baby. 

Sunday we found a new park to explore.  It's very, very secluded so Sky and I won't be going there without Mark, but it was nice that there was no one else around while we explored.   

Throwing rocks in the water. 

 

 Playing their version of Pooh Sticks!

She tried to push the tree over, then turned around and gave it a big hug!

   
The nice thing about starting the weekend with a good hard run, getting some tasks done, and spending lot's of time playing with the tot is that I don't feel bad at all that once the Pro Bowl started I sat on the couch watching the game and then stayed up late to watch the Grammy's.  I feel like I earned that "lazy" time watching TV and drinking good wine.

Who else watched the Pro Bowl? 
I wasn't sure how I'd like the new changes, but it was a much more exciting game to watch than the last few years have been. 

What was your favorite performance of the Grammy's? 
Close tie between Pink and Macklemore.  

 

Twisted Hair and Stuff

Anyone else hate growing their hair out?!  Yep, me too.  Thankfully my hair grows pretty fast, but still there is a stage in every grow-out attempt, sometimes more than one stage, that you just can't do a thing with it.  Going from pixi'ish short to angled, just below the ears, bob = frustration! 

I'm fine with where it's at right now though, because I know the end result is going to be amazing!!!  But, it also means there is long hair in my eyes that I can't stand.  The result is a lot of this...

...not making this pic big because my forehead is already ginormous enough!  I either pin it, twist it, clip it, or braid it back out of my face almost every day.  For special, I need/want to look nice, occasions I will leave it down for a tussled in my eyes look, but I can only handle that for a few hours.

Sky was super thrilled about the stroller run today...I was super thrilled about the fog.  I actually kind of like the fog, but it made for extra cautious street crossings with the strollers. 

Her biggest issue I think is that I'm running and she isn't.  She finished her snack super fast, before the run even started so I kept hearing "I want out", "I run, run".  I just can't slow the group down that much.  I may have to start letting her out on the last home stretch back to the store though.  She just isn't happy if she isn't running. 

I had an awesome run with the Tuesday Night group last night!  I must be getting faster because I wasn't the last one this time!  When I left the house it was sunny and nice, but Tacoma was full of fog.  I didn't bring my headlamp, so I ran my a$$ off to keep up with the group.  It helped that there were a few people behind me, and I could hear them talking.  So I pushed to stay ahead of them.  I just didn't want to get left alone in the dark and fog....it's not that it's not safe, but it isn't safe.  If that makes sense. 

Mile 1 - 9:22
Mile 2 - 9:36
Mile 3 - 8:50 - Felt like I was hauling a$$, turns out I was, for me anyway. 

Next week is a beer run, and I'm so excited.  Not sure how drinking beer and running is going to work for me, but I'm going to give it my best attempt! 

It's driving me crazy not to have a half on the calendar until April.  I miss it!!!  Miss the training, miss the distance, miss the discipline.  I think I'm addicted to 13.1.  Tempted to sign up for every 5K and 10K I can find between now and then just so I have some races to look forward to. 

Funny yet annoying new thing Sky is doing.  She is all of a sudden very, very opinionated about which direction I'm driving.  If I turn right and she wanted to go left it's screaming, crying and yelling "no go this way".  Every time we go anywhere she gets upset about how I'm getting us there.  Fun times I tell you. 

Please tell me your toddler is doing something funny and/or annoying as well! 

What races are people doing?  I'm really needing to find some fun ones to run!

Anyone done a beer run?