Friday Things and What I Accomplished on the Kids' 'Sick Day'

On Wednesday afternoon, completely out of the blue, my daughter came down with a fever and hardly moved the rest of the day.  So odd that yesterday morning she woke up completely fine and her normal, chipper, self.  On the other hand, my son started to complain that his tummy hurt (which is his universal symptom whenever he gets ill).  I told him I'd drive him to school, in lieu of taking the bus, to give him some time to rest.  Now, here's the thing: when does the faking illness thing start?  On one hand, I don't want to send him to school only to look like I'm pawning my lethargic and ill child on school and have him end up puking all over the place.  On the other hand, I don't want him to think he can stay home for every little sniffle.  

Seriously, when's this sh*t gonna start? Side note, one of the best Chicago movies EVER.  source

Alas, I let him stay home, because I was worried that he might have caught whatever 24 hour bug his sister had.  I parked them both on the couch with a movie and told them to rest.  During which time I accomplished the following:

• stripped the beds/washed sheets
• put away all the laundry
• tackled a mountain of filing
• went through my closet and made a Goodwill pile
• dusted and vacuumed the upstairs rooms
• vacuumed the stairs
• cleaned the bathrooms 

Sorry about my type-A bullet point list; I am just super proud of myself, so I had to share.  Man, I sometimes I wish they'd get sick more often...  Anyhow!  By about 10:30 I hear the usual bickering ensue downstairs, and someone says he's feeling better.  Gah!  OK, well, let's go to school then.  Isn't school over? He says.  Practically, but I don't tell him that.  So now he knows how freaking boring a sick day is: no we're not going anywhere, no you can't play outside, no running, etc. etc.  So they piped down, acquiesced to the rules and I set them up with snacks and coloring.  By the time I was done we did a family rendition of The 30 Day Shred, because I was missin' my Bootcamp class; doing exercise videos with small children is really rather entertaining.

Thank GOD I had some plans to get out of the house last night, as I was going so very stir crazy.  And, hot damn, has anyone ever been to an IPic theater??  

We got the premium plus seats where they bring food, drinks (including my prickly pear n' honey margarita), and free popcorn to your plush recliner outfitted with a pillow and blanket!  The ticket only cost $17, not much more than you standard movie ticket.  Oh, and The Great Gatsby was indeed great.  I adore Baz Lurhmann movies, ever since I lived blocks from an old movie theater when I was living in Wrigleyville and walked over to see Romeo + Juliet nearly ten times.  That could have also been because of Leo's awesomeness, but Baz sure knows how to pick his leading men. Ewan McGregor is also one of my all time faves and I could listen to him sing Your Song all the livelong day.  I have a think for tall, freckled Irish guys (see also: my husband).  I also highly recommend Salmon Fishing in the Yemen; just love Ewan as a romantic lead.

OK, I'd better stop talking about movies before I can't stop.  Funny videos!  Here's something to put a smile on your face for the weekend - watch until the end: hilarious fun.

For the playlist: this came on my David Guetta channel on Pandora the other day and it got me through some hill repeats.

Apollo by Hardwell featuring Amba Shepherd

Happy Weekend!

2013 Playlist
This Head I Hold by Electric Guest
Castles in the Sky by Ian Van Dahl
Feel this Moment by Pitbull, featuring Christina Aguilera

Into Your Arms by the Lemonheads

Just Give me a Reason by Pink

I Love It by Icona Pop

Little Secrets Passion Pit

Sovereign Light Cafe by Keane, remixed by Afrojack

Clarity by Zedd

Years by Alesso

Something Good Can Work by Two Door Cinema Club
She Wolf by David Guetta, featuring Sia
Alive by Krewella
Illmerica by Wolfgang Garnter
Drowning by Armin van Buren
Give Me Your Hand by The Ready Set
Language by Porter Robinson
Cry for You by September
You Are My Diamond by Tiesto - featuring Kianna
Arguru - Deadmau5
We Are by Jus Jack & Oza, featuring Aeone

May: Celebration Overload 2013 (Birthdays and Mother's Day)

The beginning of May is one of my favorite times of the year.  My kids' birthdays being around the same time as Mother's Day seems like serendipity, as I can't help but reflect on the day they were born and (well, at least with the first one) the day I became a mother.

Yes, I use this picture a lot - because I CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF IT.

This is the first year we didn't do any kind of party for the boy child, and it was fantastic.  Now that he's in Kindergarten, if you invite one kid, you have to invite them all.  We did that last year with his preschool class and it was fun, but I just seemed to be grasping at straws trying to find a place to celebrate.  For his first two years it was easy to have people over to our house or a friend's house, since the crowd was small and consisted of 'baby' friends.  For year three and four, with preschool friends, going to a park worked out fine; but the weather can be fickle in May.  So last year we decided on the local Children's Museum, since it's one of his favorite places to go.

This year, we wanted to start making things a bit more low key and do something that would be fun for both kids, as we're starting to celebrate the birthdays together.  It would be an understatement to say that my son is obsessed with any and all sea creatures, and the current favorite is sharks.  My daughter also loves all things Nemo, although her favorite gifts this year included a fully operational Buzz Lightyear and a tea set; this just about sums up my daughter.  So, the one big common thread is that they both have the best time at the Aquarium.  To make it special, we headed down to Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium for the first time and it did not disappoint - mainly because: SHARKS.

baby girl and my favorite: the walruses - 3000 pounds of cute.

I hope we can keep the tradition of a family outing for birthdays; it seemed a lot more meaningful to the kids and, of course, it's much less stressful.  Not once did either of them pipe up wondering where the big party was, and I'm quite happy to keep things this way until they do.  

Ah, and of course this weekend was Mother's Day.  The best gifts ever:

front and inside of big brother's card

yearly Mother's Day hand print poem from baby girl's toddler  group

I also started doing this questionnaire I found on one of my all time favorite blogs, All and Sundry, when big brother was three.  Every year the answers are priceless, age six being no exception:

Okay, ready for some questions? Here goes. 

What is something I always say to you? I love you

What makes me happy? me being good
What makes me sad? being bad

How do I make you laugh? Tickle me

What do you think I was like as a child? You liked pugs (true, I told him a story about how I met a pug when I was a little girl and always wanted one)

How old am I? 23 (looooove him!)

How tall am I? 10ft (he ascertains as he starts by my feet and counts off, raising his hand little by little until he gets to my head)

What is my favorite thing to do? Cuddle with me

What do I do when you’re not around? You read a book (smart kid)

What am I really good at? Working on the computer and reading

What am I not really good at? Doing the hula hoop (hah! true)

What is my favorite food? Garlic bread (I can never leave garlic bread untouched when we have some with a pasta dinner)

What makes me proud of you? when I do nice stuff with my sister

What do you and I do together? Play together

How do you know that I love you? Because you’re the best mom

What is one thing you wish you could change about me? that you’d let me do whatever I want to

What do you wish you could go and do with me? go and buy a real great white (um, I'll get right on it!)

fin

This Week's Eats 5.12.13

Okay, has anyone tried these Chobani Flips??  I try my best to stay out of Target, but it's the only place I can find them and, man, they are worth braving all of Target's temptations...

I'm not usually a Key Lime person, but this has become my favorite.  This one is heavenly, too:

They factor heavily into my snacks or breakfasts during the week - highly recommend!  I would also highly recommend the southwest chopped salad we made last week, but I was 'meh' about the buffalo chicken casserole.  For all of the unhealthy stuff in there, I wanted to looooove it.  We may make some tweaks to it and try it again though...

• Monday - Pizza
• Tuesday - Tequila Lime Turkey Chili (I'm feeling a bit under the weather today - Mother's Day of all days! So I pushed this back from last week.)
• Wednesday - Kebabs with Sirloin Steak Tips and Veggies with Cous-Cous (we got a couple pounds of these tips with our last Omaha Steak order, so we're going to try them in a simple kebab recipe.)
• Thursday - Mom's night out to see the Great Gatsby!
• Friday - Satay Chicken with Roasted Broccoli and Peanut Sauce
• Saturday - Rigatoni with Arrabiata Sauce (in a dutch oven, saute about 1 cup chopped onion in olive oil until soft, add about 3 cloves of chopped garlic and 1/2 pound italian sausage, deglaze with some white wine once it's browned and add 28oz can crushed tomatoes, 8 oz tomato sauce, a can of tomato paste, a generous pinch or two of Kosher salt, pepper and crushed red pepper - let it cook as long as you can stand waiting to eat.)
• Sunday - Nancy's Chopped Salad (trying this recipe I found on Pinterest from Bonappetempt.com

Linking up with Mommy Run Fast and Jill Conyers, as well as Rachel at In No Simple Language - be sure to check out all the great weekly menus!

Friday Things

Aaaand, my other child is celebrating a birthday today.  I had my first baby SIX years ago...  Oh the evil march of time!

Oof, on top of that, I'm a quite a bit sore from doing 100 push ups yesterday in bootcamp.  I hadn't been to class in two weeks and now I'm paying for it; we did several really fun variations!

Pike push ups, yeowww - source

Or how about these?

'T' Push ups - source

The last round were the kind where you just lay on your stomach and have to push yourself up to the starting position, then lay back down, lift your palms up  and start again.  Brutal.

Anyhoo, here's something brutally cute for your entertainment:

And, you probably already saw this video, but just in case...

Mmmmm, John Krasinkski...

Happy mother's day in advance to all the fabulous mothers I know!  I'll be celebrating by taking the kids to Point Defiance for their birthdays, huzzah!  Hopefully we'll get 'er done on Saturday so that I may have a day of sloth on Sunday...

Lastly, thank you Jesse Thomas for putting 'This Head I Hold' into your Wildflower race report so I could add it to my playlist.  I love that song and never knew the name or artist info; if it gave you a boost during a race, well damn skippy, it should work for us common folk!

This Head I Hold by Electric Guest

Happy Weekend!

2013 Playlist
Castles in the Sky by Ian Van Dahl
Feel this Moment by Pitbull, featuring Christina Aguilera

Into Your Arms by the Lemonheads

Just Give me a Reason by Pink

I Love It by Icona Pop

Little Secrets Passion Pit

Sovereign Light Cafe by Keane, remixed by Afrojack

Clarity by Zedd

Years by Alesso

Something Good Can Work by Two Door Cinema Club
She Wolf by David Guetta, featuring Sia
Alive by Krewella
Illmerica by Wolfgang Garnter
Drowning by Armin van Buren
Give Me Your Hand by The Ready Set
Language by Porter Robinson
Cry for You by September
You Are My Diamond by Tiesto - featuring Kianna
Arguru - Deadmau5
We Are by Jus Jack & Oza, featuring Aeone

The Real Magic of Eugene

I heard runners talk of it all the time: there's magic in Eugene.  It's the home of Track Town, the Olympic Trials, Pre...  For me, the magic was in the people: the people of Eugene (from the local artists who rented me their bungalow, to the adorable and well mannered college boys serving up my coffee) and, most importantly, every one of those runners who is drawn there like a moth to a flame.

Teammates and Twitter friends

I'm not sure if there's ever been a larger gathering of Oiselle athletes and meeting all of these extraordinary women exceeded my wildest expectations.  

requisite team photo at the expo

The gatherings started with a shakeout run on Saturday morning and there were immediate hugs all around, setting the tone for an unforgettable weekend.  

as Sarah said, there was a lot of "hi, my name is @___"

running on Pre's trail

Patty and Monica!

Later, at the expo, Lauren Fleshman gave such an inspiring and heartfelt talk on several topics: focusing on our strengths rather than weaknesses, the component to achieving success which can't be quantified (the 'mystery column' that cannot be put into a spreadsheet like your VO2 max), avoiding injury and the mental aspect of running.  This last talking point really got everybody's attention as she told the story about how race nerves and negative thoughts got the better of her during the US Championships and she, Lauren Fleshman, STOPPED AND WALKED.  Knowing that she also hits those mental roadblocks was a real eye opener, and she gave such great advice about changing the conversation in our heads.

post expo coffee outing on less serious topics

After reading every recap post I could find (here's an updated list), I think it's safe to say that everyone's race was hugely influenced by the guiding forces of others.  Whether we had...

 ...someone literally running alongside us (like those that were paced by awesome friends like Mason or Lauren)

...friends cheering for us along the route (I owe so much to the cheer squad and my posse of constant companions for their confidence in me)

...the love baked into one of five dozen delicious cupcakes that Meghan made from scratch and brought all the way from Bellingham for us runners, while she cheered us on in a chicken hat

...the words of Lauren Fleshman to keep us company along those long miles

none of us ran that race alone. 

my constant companions Patty, JJ and Lauren

After the race, there was some heartbreak and frustration for a few.  Yet after all was said and done, there was elation - elation for those who accomplished their goals; BQs and PRs abounded.  But, mostly, elation to be occupying the same space and moments in time.  

Thanks Picky Bars and Ninkasi for an awesome partaaaay!
Paulette, Sophia, Patty & Me

Eating one of Meghan's cupcakes - this is my 'don't even THINK about touching my cupcake or I will CUTCHOO' face.  Mad love for ya M2!

This was one for the history books, ladies.  Let's do it again soon.  No matter what kind of race I had (or will have) there, I'll always, always, always love Eugene.

Books I Read in April

I got a few more books read this month, thanks to giving audio books a try.  I really enjoyed the Bossypants audio version and would really like to go back and 're-read' David Sedaris this way!  I was thankful for being forced to listen to the first half of Code Name Verity, as it's slow to start and the narrator did a beautiful job of making it sound less technical and giving it some drama.

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter



Oh, I just loved this book! I'm a big fan of movies and, not only was this a bit of historical fiction (of which I'm also a fan) that's set in the golden era of the big Hollywood studios, it also unfolded in a very cinematic way. Each character's story line is fully realized and is expertly woven together with the others through the decades from the 60s to present day. It's an utterly engaging, gorgeous and epic romance.

Rumors by Anna Godberson




Not quite as fun as the first one (The Luxe), but still good soap opera brain candy - a great blend of Sense and Sensibility/Downton/Titanic. It ended with yet another cliffhanger; at least the whole series is published and I don't have to wait to pick up the next book...

Bossypants by Tina Fey



Oh I just love, love, love her. I listened to the audio book, which I highly recommend so that you can hear her pitch-perfect delivery. There were a few parts that got a little long winded, with stories I wasn't as interested in as I would have been to hear more about her time directing Mean Girls, doing SNL or 30 Rock. But, on the whole this is a gut busting read.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein



I think I'm not alone when I say that it took until about 3/4 of the way through this book for it to pick up steam. I listened to the first half on audio book and was glad to switch to the hardcover, as there were a few things essential to the plot that could not be conveyed in the audio version. It's the story of two women, one a pilot and one a spy, and their unlikely friendship during WWII. I'm glad I finished it, because the ending was masterful - intense, stunning, and ultimately heartbreaking.

This Week's Eats 5.5.13 (and Eugene Eats)

I finally had an Original Yumm Bowl and, lo, it was deeeelicious!

However, now that I've had the real deal, I'm pretty confident that my homemade version is pretty darn close.  The best thing I ate in Eugene, hands down, was the Liege waffle from Off The Waffle.  Oh my...

It doesn't look all that exciting, but it's the most delicious waffle I've ever had in my life.  I'm, of course, scouring the internet now on how to make these at home.  It tasted like a cross between a doughnut and a waffle.  I need to go back and try one of the many tempting offerings because I stayed with a 'safe' option of just a plain waffle with fruit and yogurt (it was the day before the race). 

I also hit up Dutch Bros at least three times, and it definitely lived up to the hype - the mochas taste as if there's a bit of chocolate malt, or some such secret ingredient, in them...

And last, but not least, I did eat a Voodoo Doughnut - so quickly I didn't even take a picture.  I got the 'Old Dirty Bastard' a raised yeast doughnut with chocolate frosting (a LOT of frosting), crushed Oreos and a drizzle of peanut butter.  OMG. 

So, last week I was MIA from menu planning because it took me until at least yesterday to feel rested.  We did lots of easy meals and nothing new or fun - time to rectify that this week!

• Monday - Pizza
• Tuesday - Southwest Chopped Salad with Cilantro Dressing and grilled shrimp (new Pinterest recipe)
• Wednesday - Buffalo Chicken Casserole (another Pinterest find that sounds so bad, yet soooo good...)
• Thursday - Penne with Spinach Sauce with cherry tomatoes and artichokes (jazzing up an old Giada recipe)
• Friday - big brother's turning six on this day, so we'll probably go to Red Robin 
• Saturday - Chicken Parmesan (favorite Tyler Florence recipe)
• Sunday - Tequila Lime Turkey Chili (a favorite from Pink Parsley)

Linking up with Mommy Run Fast and Jill Conyers, as well as Rachel at In No Simple Language - be sure to check out all the great weekly menus!