Getting Things Done

I had a million things on my to-do list yesterday and actually got all of them done...except blogging.  I can't remember the last time I stayed up til 11 just so I could get things done.  Usually I'm over it by the time I put the boys to bed and call it a night shortly after they do.  It felt good to be productive but I'm glad the only major things on the to-do list today are Laundry and Produce.  I love produce day!  I'm especially excited for all the Thanksgiving goodies that are coming next week.   Organic cranberries--score!  We're supposed to be getting the BEST POTATOES EVER, buttercream fingerling potatoes, today.  Good think because one of  Mickey's favorite foods is potatoes.  I even switched my share so he could have them.  I see mashed potatoes in his very near future!


Before I tackled my to-do list, I did enjoy 2 lovely cups of this yummy coffee.  I highly recommend it...

It probably tasted especially yummy because it was BOGO at Publix and I had two coupons so I got each bag for $2.50.  Gotta love Publix and their wonderful coupon policies and sales.  

While I was busy getting things done yesterday, this is what my boys discovered...

They have just discovered how to make silly faces on windows and were really cracking each other up yesterday.  I love when they get the giggles like that.  It reminds me to stop and enjoy the moment as well.

We had a million errands to run including a stop at PetSmart for cat food.  No trip to PetSmart is complete without checking out the current rodents for sale...

Have you ever seen one with such geometric shading.  Crazy stuff!  It looked like he had been stamped. 

This was the boys' favorite.  He was VERY interactive...and actually kind of cute but still a rodent, nonetheless, and therefor never allowed in my house.  I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to convince the boys that we are not a pet family...

They LOVE every animal they meet and make it their mission to learn the sound that every animal makes.  I'm amazed by how much they already know about animals.  The animal sound of the week is "ribbit ribbit."  LOVE!

We also swung through BJs for some goodies and Mason spotted these lovely boots which he had to try on.  I think we might have to go back and get them.  We are traveling to the midwest this winter and need something besides flip flops to put on our feet, especially if it snows which I hope it does.  He'll fit right in with these boots...

The crazy thing is, if I buy them, I'm pretty sure he will actually wear them.  In fact, he'd probably never want to take them off.  They love shoes.

We also squeezed in a trip to the mall for a MOPS playdate in the food court.  That play area really is great.   All the kids had a blast.  My boys took a 3 hour nap after all that running around.  I hope everyone else's kids did too.  

The boys let me squeeze in some cardio at the gym too right before dinner time.  I had wanted to go for a run but the weather just wasn't cooperating so the elliptical became my workout instead.  I started our new book club book, which was my choice, and I am LOVING it so far.  We're reading The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver.  

I know it's not her latest, but I hadn't read it yet and love her other stuff so wanted to check this one out as well.  I hope it continues to be great and everyone loves it as much as I am so far.

The busy day left me with little energy to object when Colton wanted to wear his boots to bed, so rather than fight him, I gave in and now have one of my favorite pictures of him so far.  Like my friend Dana said, "choose your battles."  It just wasn't worth fighting him on it and I'm so glad I didn't.  Look how cute he is...

 ...and he fell asleep reading his books.   I hope they never lose their love of books.  We read every chance we get.   I love this quote that just happened to be on Macaroni Kid (which is a great resource for finding things to do with your kids, by the way) this morning.  Says the reading teacher..."Read to your kids as much as you can!"

 ...and don't forget to make time for play too.  You won't regret it!

(I couldn't show you that cute photo of Colton without showing off Mason's block building skills as well.  He's really getting the hang of stacking.

My Crazy Version of A Rest Day

It was so nice to wake up and realize there was nothing that I HAD to do on the calendar today.  Other than getting some groceries, dropping off some bank deposits, and making a couple of phone calls, my schedule was wide open.  I did originally plan to get in some yoga as well on my rest day from my half marathon training plan but I switched up my plan a bit as the day progressed.  Let me just tell you I'm a glutton for punishment and it appears I have my priorities a little out of whack.  You'll see why as you read on...

Our day kicked off with a leisurely breakfast of scrambled eggs, Morningstar sausages (my boys and husband love these things and I've learned to like them too), and a waffle topped with strawberry jam...oh, and of course, COFFEE.  Now that the Intelligentsia coffee is gone, we have moved on to the Caribou Mahogany blend.  We already miss those yummy Intelligentsia beans...Hopefully there are more in our house in the near future.  The Caribou blend smelled a bit like cigars...not sure what I think of that.

After we cleaned up breakfast and made ourselves presentable for the day, we headed off to one of our favorite places to visit, Publix.  We can't seem to get enough of that place and go there at least once a week, usually twice.  Lucky for us, Gina was there again this morning to give us balloons.  She's so good to the boys!

I had trouble getting them to look at me.  There were
too many other interesting things going on in the parking lot.

Our next stop was the bank where the boys got some lovely blue suckers.  They thought it was funny when they got home and could see their blue lips in the mirror.

Once again, they're not very smiley today.  So serious!  Maybe they knew what was next up on my plan for the day...haha.

As I unloaded the groceries, I started thinking, "What if I just do my long run today?"  My friend had just invited us over for "world famous margaritas" and I didn't want to have to miss out on enjoying them since I had a long run scheduled for first thing tomorrow morning.  (Last time I drank the night before a run, my run was less than stellar and I didn't want to repeat that event.)  This is what I meant when I told you earlier I have my priorities out of whack--I ran so I could drink!  What's wrong with me???  To my defense I also wanted to have tomorrow to dedicate completely to family.  If I squeezed in my run today, I wouldn't have to worry about it tomorrow.  I could make tomorrow my rest day and I'd much rather have my rest day on a day when we can have our whole family together.

Once the groceries were all put away, I had made up my mind to go for it.  I chugged some caffeine and electrolytes in the form of one of these delicious little babies...

(Thanks to Lindsey for the recommendation.  She described them perfectly, "like heaven and sunshine.")  I don't even like coconut water but I LOVE these.  Check them out!  Once it was polished off, I loaded up the boys in the stroller along with their snacks and water for all of us and we hit the road.  Did I mention it was 11:30 at this point and 87 degrees outside.  This is the part where I'm a glutton for punishment.  What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?

I can't claim that this was the best run of my life.  In fact, it might have been one of the most torturous runs of my life, but I figure if I can survive 9+ miles in midday heat pushing 100+ pounds of stroller weight, 13 miles at 6 am on October 28 should feel easy, right?  I'm not gonna lie.  I NEVER take walk breaks and I took at least 5 little breaks to chug water and convince myself to keep going.  On top of it all, MapMyRun wasn't working.  Check out what it was telling me...

 8.36 miles in 33 minutes and 45 seconds.  I wish! I think it was more like 9.5 miles in 1 hr 35 minutes. Only 3 more long runs until the big race.  I won't be doing any of them in the midday heat EVER again.  Lesson learned!  

At least the views were pretty.  I ran over that bridge you see in the distance.  It was probably the coolest part of the run with the breezes off the water.  Thank goodness for that relief!  Somehow the cloud cover that I thought I'd have when I left the house seemed to disappear as I ran.  Not cool!

Once we got back home, I chugged LOTS of water and finally felt like scarfing down a giant salad after my shower.  I love the combination of almonds, craisins, blue cheese, Organic girl super greens, black beans and balsamic.  YUMMY!

I didn't take a photo of my salad but if you haven't tried these salad blends, it's time you did.  I just bought a baby kale mix I can't wait to try as well.

I have a batch of black bean brownies in the oven as we speak.  I used this recipe and changed it up a bit by adding peanut butter to the mix in place of the oil and using a dark chocolate bar in place of the chocolate chips.  I hope they turn out as yummy as the batter tasted.

Now, I think I've got time now to squeeze in some of the yoga I had planned for today and them hopefully I can prop my feet up and read more about Tamar.  Monday's book club discussion is sneaking up on me and I have some work to do on my book.  Thank goodness I'm enjoying it.

It makes me really glad I don't live in Bible times and I got to choose my amazing husband.  I cannot imagine having an arranged marriage.

Only 2 hours or so til I get to enjoy a highly anticipated margarita.  Hope you have something fun planned for your Friday night as well.  Cheers!