[this year's love]

-david gray



There's just something about a David Gray song that tugs at the heartstrings - Maybe it's the approaching winter, or the thought of a new calendar year (2013! Eeeek!), whatever it is, his songs seem all the more poignant, relevant, and touching as of late. Revel in the music as you read.


Secret time: I love being a girly-girl.

SHOCK! GASP! SCANDAL!

Seriously, I adore putting on makeup, curling my hair, and painting myself pretty. When I was a little girl, it was all about the lacy, pink, darling little ensembles with as much tulle as possible. Now, I adore perusing fashion blogs, mags, and obsessing in stores like Sephora. Recently, I purchased the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette, and I could not be more pleased.

Here are some great videos demonstrating different looks using this palette.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-h5vYzG-iE


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1fDr9GjUUY&feature=fvwrel



 I'm really trying to expand my horizons and utilize this palette to it's fullest potential. There will me more vids to come.



Here is a great website that details the do's and don'ts of hazel eye makeup.





On the topic of being a girly girl, I love dressing up almost as much as playing with makeup. I am already feeling compelled to prepare for New Year's Eve, even though tomorrow is only Halloween. There must be something about the idea of dressing me up that is subconsciously motivating me to pursue the perfect dress/evening look. I am obsessing over the idea of a sparkly gold dress with black tights. Obsessing.




Seriously, I'm crushing real hard.


Here is another similar option through Lauren Conrad's collection at Kohl's (though not in gold, so I will not be purchasing this selection).







She's so cute, I wish the dress came in gold!


I'm also looking at changing my hair color to something like a chocolatey caramel color, more appropriate for winter than my slightly bronze-y crazy looking summer hair (thank you natural highlights...) Here are some pics from which I'm drawing inspiration.























 I adore these colors, but of course I'm stalling to actually get it done. Were I still in Denver, I would have already marched into the Grand Salon on Wazee and asked April to accomplish this look for me. Truly, she's the most amazing hair stylist and colorist I've ever met. I miss her and her fabulous styling abilities tremendously. If there is a downside to moving, this is definitely it. I have yet to find a place that is reasonably price and well-reputed. Sigh. There will be posts once my mission is complete.



In other news, the Hot Chocolate 15k is fast approaching. I put in a solid 10 miles at a 10:30 pace on Sunday, preceded by a fast 2 miles (8:06) and 3 miles (8:48). I'm loving these sub 9 minute times!!! I'm all that much closer to achieving my goal of a 7 minute mile and keeping up with my speedy hubs. I'll do 4 miles tomorrow, and 5 miles on Friday, interspersed with cross-training and strength workouts at the local Y. The race itself is at 7 a.m., with corral loading times between 6:20 and 6:50. That is one EARLY (and cold) morning!!! It is grounding, however, to have my corral assignment and time - the race is on!



Updates to come.



Loves.

[a murder of one]

-counting crows

Well, I did it. I survived the half marathon! Truly, the lesson I have gleaned from this whole experience is that training, consistently and correctly, is an absolutely vital component of running a solid race. Clearly, this is a fact I was well aware of before the race, however, it became undeniable in how my body reacted post-race.

I truly am a Taurus, in that I am stubborn as the day is long. I put in nearly three months of training, only to have knee and ankle issues in the last two weeks - I certainly felt that, despite my injuries and lack of running before the race, I should still be able to complete the half successfully.

I completed it, but I don't know if one could call it successfully...my body broke down around mile 9/10, and it became a struggle to run 200 feet, let alone the 3+ miles still left on the course. It was an extremely hot day, which played a huge role in my massive dehydration as well. Unfortunately, after the race I was a completely nauseous mess. I managed to hold it together for the final sprint and pictures with my parents and hubby, but two steps in to walking towards the car, nuclear meltdown happened.

 

Cut to eight hours after the race, when I was finally able to keep water down and consider eating Saltine crackers.

Whoops.

Needless to say, I will be much better trained and prepared in the future. For now, I am simply pleased that I finished my very first half marathon and that I had my wonderful husband, mother, and father there to cheer me on :)

I'll be running another race (since I just can't get enough of running!) in a week and a half - this time, a 15k. Definitely less than a half marathon, but still a challenging distance. I sincerely hope that it is significantly colder for this race, as the half temperature neared 70 very uncomfortable degrees. I did end up with some pretty ridiculous running shorts tan-lines, though!

And a few weeks after that, my first Turkey Trot! This race, held on Thanksgiving, will be just a 5k that I can run with my hubby! Hopefully, I'll be in swell shape and I may even be able to keep up with him for a bit...

One can dream :)

Speaking of dreaming, I am DROOOLING over Stella and Dot's website right now - the jewelry! Unbelievably adorable. Here are some of my current faves:

The elephants! The bright colors!

I'm seriously obsessed with this wallet and this color!

So simply stunning. Swoon. Sigh.

Since we are approaching that holiday giving season, I have now lost privileges for buying items of personal use, according to the mister. Mister, you better notice these things, and in a hurry!

Tiger's baseball beckons me (we're in the World Series! Game 1!!!! EEEEEEKKKKK!!!!) away for now.

Ta-ta!

[light and day]

-the polyphonic spree

I just finished reading a really wonderful book, Wonder by R.J. Palacio.

This book first popped on my radar from a children's Scholastic Books periodical, and my eye was caught by the bright blue and curious face on the cover. I read the brief blurb, ultimately unimpressed. My initial thoughts were fairly bleak - yet another want-to-be-Hallmark type book about a student with a disability that doesn't fit in but comes to some happy conclusion. I dismissed it. 

Wonder  presented itself not too long after my perusal of the Scholastic magazine, as I was surfing through myriad of teaching blogs in an attempt to beef up my math games knowledge. 

(if you're curious, here are some great teaching blogs

Math Coach's Corner

The Teacher Wife

Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits

there are many more to come.)

Since this was the second time I had seen mention of this book within a week, I sat up and took a little more notice. The blog, I forget which one now, had written a GLOWING review, so much so that I was intrigued to the point of ordering it from Amazon.

The package came today, as happy as Amazon packages are with their little smiling faces. I immediately curled up on the couch, soothed by the pattering of rain as I flipped page after page. I could not put the book down! Wonder is an incredibly insightful, endearing, and hopeful tale. R.J. Palacio does a masterful job not only of giving Auggie (the main character) a believable, honest, 5th grade voice, but also of weaving the stories of everyone close to Auggie. I laughed often, sympathized more so, and even shed a few tears. This is an engaging book with beautiful themes that should be an essential part of every teacher's library.

While reading, I felt small twinges of nostalgia. Auggie, at one point, goes with his 5th grade class to a camp that offers an outdoor education program. Of course, my thoughts flew immediately to Pendy. It really is incredible the gifts I was bestowed by being a part of that camp. Another paragraph mentioned Auggie's "cauliflower shaped ears." I instantly thought of The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo.

 

 I had read that book to my 5th graders as an extended novel study last year. They were completely enthralled by the book, which coincidentally had a character with cauliflower shaped ears, though not through the same nature as Auggie. Reflecting on that year, those students were by far the most challenging group in terms of overcoming low self esteem and trust issues. I do believe now that Despereaux was a key in unlocking their reservations about me, reading, and even school. One of my students even used Despereaux as part of his answer to an extended response question on the CSAP! Believe me, to have something stick that long with this particular student is quite an achievement. I feel so glad that I made such an indelible mark on this student, who so desperately needed encouragement and positivity in his life.

Now that I'm feeling incredibly weepy and sentimental, I'll take this time to interject my excitement for the upcoming weekend! My parents will be here on Friday, and the big race is SUNDAY! SO CLOSE! My knee has been feeling better and better, and I even went for a quick 3 miler yesterday (8:54 minute mile pace, not bad after not running for two weeks) with minimal pain! My plan is to play it safe for this half marathon, taking a slow but steady pace and walking for 30 seconds at each mile marker - maybe not the last one, as I'll only be 1/10 of a mile away from the finish!

I'll close with a beautiful quote that was used in Wonder:

"Shall we make a new rule of life [....] always to try to be a little kinder than is necessary?"

-J. M. Barrie, The Little White Bird

be kinder than necessary, friends.

[lights out]

-santigold

I've had quite the hiatus here, as things have been absolutely bonkers. Suffice it to say, my running schedule has suffered a bit. I rolled my ankle while on a 10 mile run, and had a swollen, sore ankle and knee for about two weeks after. Needless to say, I definitely had to take some time away from running. My first run in over two weeks was on Saturday, and it was just a slow 3 miler. My plan for this week is to alternate days that I run, keep them slow and steady, and cross train on the days off. I'm now nervous for this half marathon in a completely different way!!!

IN SEVEN DAYS I WILL HAVE RUN A HALF MARATHON! Eeeek!!!!

I seriously cannot wait. Despite my niggling fears about my knee, I am absolutely jazzed to be doing this race. Monster Dash, here I come. What makes it even better is that my parents, coincidentally enough, will be in town for a wedding and will be staying with the hubs and I. They get to come see me run, in my ridiculous bee costume of all things! I picked up the pieces today, it's going to be quite amusing :) Let's just say it involves a tutu...

In keeping with the healthy eating bandwagon, here's the vegetarian menu for this week.

Breakfasts: Delicious pumpkin and coconut muffins and a delicious coffee smoothie to wake me up in the mornings. The original recipe for these muffins called for sweet potato, but I found the pumpkin and coconut substitution at the bottom and decided that sounded perfect.

       

Lunches will be a savory veggie stew, courtesy of my crockpot! It has lentils, quinoa, mushrooms, carrots, onions, and lots of delicious spices. Yum :) It's simmering away, and will hopefully be thick and delicious by tonight.

My dinners this week are easy, I'm going with a spinach and cheese quesadilla. Those can be whipped up whenever - I dig the convenience factor.

I'm also planning on whipping up a delicious pumpkin bread with a brown sugar and almond crust for when my parents get into town. It's always good to have some sweets around, especially for my mom!

The muffins just popped out of the oven looking stellar, the stew is, well, stewing away in the crockpot, the Tigers are up 3 - 0, the weather has been deliciously rainy all weekend, and life is good.

love for now.

[nothing better]

-the postal service

Can I just say that there is nothing better, nothing more satisfying than a moment when everything in the universe aligns for a beautiful moment or two in order to create the most wonderful combination of events? Clearly, this evening is one of those wonderful moments.

Picture this: the hubs in his yellow apron, sauteing up onions, peppers, and ground round, layering the delicious saucy mixture with mozzarella cheese and thick lasagna noodles while rain pours down and Pandora plays the most perfect melodies of The Postal Service, Minus the Bear, MGMT, Jack Johnson, Iron & Wine, and other such delightful, mellow tunes while we are drinking our favorite red wine (Elk Cove Pinot, yes!) and savoring the quiet before our friends arrive.

Sigh.

Simply lovely. The smells in this apartment are outrageous!

Ciao for now, bellas.

[jesus christ]

-brand new

that's a pretty face....

Well, the Makin' Tracks 5k was not as much as a success as I had hoped it would be. I was nearly in tears after I saw my time, but, thanks to my wonderful husband giving me some important perspective, I felt better after all. Truly, running 3 miles was an accomplishment, regardless of finish time, as I had been curled up in the fetal position and heavily medicated not even 48 hours prior to the race.

While I'm still not 100% yet, I am going to try my best to complete the training regiment for this week as best I can.

Sunday: Rest

Monday: Stretch and Strengthen (my own workout again)

Tuesday: 4.5 mile run (I MUST WAKE UP EARLY FOR THIS!!!!)

Wednesday: 8 x 400 intervals

Thursday: 3 mile run and strength (possibly do strength on Wednesday or Friday)

Friday: rest

Saturday: 4 mile pace

Sunday: 9 miles (eek!!! so close to double digits!)

Our meals also look delicious for the week!

Breakfast: Cereal (a nice break from the liquid breakfasts we've been having)

Lunch: A Chipotle-inspired burrito bowl found on Iowa Girl Eats

Dinner: Homemade lasagna! Mmm, mmm.

Mr. G and I will be celebrating our first anniversary this Tuesday :) He made reservations at a super swanky restaurant called Blackbird, and I couldn't be more excited to dress up and spend the evening celebrating this glorious past year and all the wonderful years to come with the man of my dreams!

 

Lots of love.

[islands]

-xx

What. a. week.

Monday I did my own strength workout, and that felt great. (Thanks Tanya!)

Tuesday I made sure to run in the morning, and I put in 3 miles at a killer 8:19 minute/mile pace. Since I, once again, got up a little late (surprise, surprise) I switched my 3 mile Thursday run with my 4 mile Tuesday run. Fair enough. That night, I stayed late at school to support our Open House, which had a rip-roaring turnout. There was standing room only in the cafetorium! Woot. After coming home, the hubs and I decided the neighborhood 5k race this Saturday sounded like a good time, so we registered.

Then Wednesday happened.

Cue deathly sinus pressure, fever, chills, sore throat, and all kinds of nastiness in the nose region that slowly crept up through my system and bonked me over the head just like Whack-a-mole by the afternoon.

Death.

I managed to stick it out for all of Wednesday at school, but as soon as I hit the door I crawled into bed, sans workout (a tempo run, of course). I knew instantly that I would be in the prone position on the couch all day Thursday. And so it was.

Thursday. Picture a poor, forlorn figure (yours truly), ensconced in an oversized quilt, with a side table chock-full of remedies - Mucinex cold and sinus, Vick's Vaporub, orange juice, green tea pumped full of antioxidants, a Nalgene full of ice water, a box of Kleenex, and a big steaming bowl of none other than, you guessed it, chicken noodle soup. Way to go, Progresso. I'm pretty sure I didn't eat anything solid yesterday. At all.

 

After an 8 o'clock bedtime, I woke up this morning feeling not quite whole, hale, and hearty, but infinitely better than the preceding two days. Whew!

Now, my lungs aren't quite at full functioning capacity yet (not that they're ever stellar, as a person with asthma), but I'm gonna say a little prayer tonight and hope that my recovery is indeed full as of 8:00 tomorrow morning. I have some pretty high hopes for this race, after the times I've been putting in the past two weeks. Granted, my week has been a little disrupted, so I may not live up to my own expectations, but it will feel nice just to be running again, after a three day hiatus.

This course will be pretty cool, winding through a stately, estate-home ridden neighborhood to the university and ending with an all out sprint on their track. When I get there, it's all out for 400 meters. If only I had managed to get in the speed training that this training program has been calling for....oh well. I'm going to pour all the speed I have when I hit the track.

 Here's my inspiration.

 

I read somewhere that running is like flying, because there is a point where both feet leave the ground.

I love that.

I'll be flying tomorrow morning.

To your good health.