It's my birthday and I'll blog if I want to

I am 33 years old today!
It has been a great 3 days. Friday I went with my buggy to the Natural History Museum and the Science Center on a class field trip. It was tons of fun!
Then, I took the weekend off work and did lots of fun stuff with hubs. We went fishing yesterday morning, actually I read and got sun while he fished.
After we got off the water we drove down to Disneyland. We spent the day there today acting like kids. It was a ton of fun! It was weird to be there without the girls, but we had fun.
I'll be back tomorrow to post some pictures.

Paleo People Review

I was lucky enough to stumble onto a paleo blog (which I have been reading tons of lately!) that reviewed Paleo People's all natural grain less granolas and had a 10% off code for my own purchase. I decided to give it a go because I am a granola freak and have been trying other brands. These granolas are gluten and wheat free. They are filled with nuts, raisins, seeds, coconut, and honey.
Laura, the owner of Paleo People, was amazing to work with and shipped extremely fast!! I ordered to four pack so I got to try all four yummy flavors.
Cacao Nut - This flavor had cacao nibs and cacao powder added to it. It was yummy, but my least favorite flavor of the four, I enjoyed it, but could take or leave it.
Apple Crisp - This tasted like an apple crisp! So very yummy! I really enjoy this, it is the perfect snack!
Banana Nut - OMG I loved this! Especially mixed with a sliced banana and almond butter! This would be great with almond or coconut milk for morning cereal.
Cappuccino Crunch - This was my absolute favorite flavor!!! This is right up my alley with whole coffee beans mixed in! I loved it! This is the flavor I would pick if I could only pick one!!

Now Laura has given you this chance to try Paleo People's amazing granolas yourself with a 10% discount. Just use the code "give paleo a chance". If you do buy this and try it, let me know what you think!

Hot Hot Heat

It is so hot here! I am not ready for this. It was 99 degrees at noon. Despite the heat I spent a couple of hours reading to kids today at work. Reading out loud to kids is one of my very favorite things to do so this is one of the events I look forward to each year.
After that we had our 4-H mini member meeting and it was lots of fun watching all the little ones plant flowers and decorate the pots.
Tomorrow I will be back with a review of Paleo People grain less granola (spoiler, I adore it!!!)

Wednesday Whine

The last few days have been busy and great. Lots of plans, and none came to fruition! Hubs and I planned to go to dinner and a movie Sunday and ended up doing nothing because we were both tired. We planned to go to the Farmer's Market yesterday and didn't make it. There is just so much to get done and only half of it is really possible!!
I took the bug to the doctor yesterday because she's had a rash for over a week, to me it looked like hives (which I am prone to) and the pediatrician said it probably was that and some other type of skin rash combined. She's got some cream for the remaining patches and can't take scalding hot showers any more (she's the only one who is like me and wants her skin practically burned off in the shower!).
After the doctor for bug I came home and had a short run, just a couple of miles. Then, the highlight of my day, I went to the dentist because I have been having some tooth pain. Turns out it's not a new cavity, what a shock that was, it is two (of course it couldn't only be one) of my previous fillings that have fractured from my teeth grinding. I guess the tooth colored fillings are not very strong, so I'm getting two new silver fillings next week. What a fun way to spend my day off and a bunch of money!
Today my plan was to get out and get a nice 15 mile run in. I got the girls dropped off and came home and headed out. The first 3 miles were great, I felt good and my pace was good. Then the need to go to the bathroom hit and hit bad!! I had to go, I know this is TMI, but I'm so bummed, so badly I had to walk for about a half a mile. I got to a store and went and felt better for about a mile and then it hit AGAIN! So I made it home and I'm done! Just over 6 miles done. Blah!! Now I'm going to just shower and be a bum with my tummy ache.

Who Has 2 Thumbs and PRs on a Trail Run? This Mama!!

The trail run was amazing!! I LOVED it! I can't wait to do it again and I'm on the hunt for a 10K trail run! That being said the weather was not the runner's friend this morning!! It was nearly freezing, right about 40 degrees, super windy and SO MUDDY! Getting dirty wasn't the issue with the mud, it was the slipping! I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but I am CRAZY CLUMSY!! Like seriously a klutz!! AND, this wasn't just mud, it was mud mixed with cow pies, what fun to fall into. I didn't fall, but I ended up slowing down quite a few times to keep from falling, and twice I came VERY VERY close to going down. The trail was also so narrow in some places that passing was nearly impossible, unless I wanted to go out into the tall grass, but I was too afraid to twist an ankle to pass. It only happened twice, but I know that it slowed me down a bit. The poor people with my huffing butt behind them must have been annoyed (I am a loud breather!!).
I don't have any time breakdowns, because I pulled my best dork move and forgot to start my Garmin AGAIN (I also lost one of my Yurbuds covers for my headphones somewhere)! I think that not knowing how far I am into the race and my actual time might help, I only knew my pace at the second I looked down so I just pushed myself. I may try going naked for my 5K next month and just going all out!!
I finished and stood around freezing with everyone else, and then it started to rain (sideways because of the wind) but there was no way I was leaving because they had awesome door prizes and I needed to know my time. I didn't win a door prize (boo), but I did get third in my age group and a nice little 12 second PR! I got a nice medal and a baby Blue Oak to plant.

Before the race, entering the preserve

After the race - freezing, wet toes that don't

look as muddy as you'd expect

The beanie is not a great fashion statement,

but it did it's job!!

After I got back from the race I ran to the fairgrounds to see my big girl's 4-H projects. She got 1st on 2 of them and 2nd on the other. I'm so proud of her!!

She made that memory board from scratch!

Now I'm headed to lunch with a friend and then off to work!

I'm Not Dead, Just Busy

I seriously don't know how I thought I'd make myself post every day this month, the days are flying by so fast it's hard to remember what day it is! This week FLEW by and the next few are just as jam packed.

The highlights of the week were 2 days of dance, 3 days of training for me, signing up for my first trail run and just our regular life.

Our make out buddies for the week

I got my hair done since everyone was laughing at my major gray outgrowth, I have far too much hair for a 32 year old, I had a lot even in high school.

Not the best picture, but here's the 'do

My trail run is tomorrow, it's a 5K and I'm super excited. BUT, it's been pouring all day today so it's going to be a soggy mess out there! It may even be raining while I'm running, that will be two firsts at once!!

I've eaten candy a few times this week, SO BAD!! But I'm trying to get back on track, it is just really hard after Easter for some reason.

Paleo Easter FAIL

It's been a weekend of fails for me, but none that I'm all too sad about. First I flaked on a few WEGO posts, I'll get back to them tomorrow. Then today I failed major at my eating!! I ate so much and I'm really paying for it with a headache. Tomorrow is a new day!

Work was long and busy, but I made it through and we had no incidents (at least not while I was there). Easter was great, hubs did an amazing job getting everything done today, the food was so yummy!! Now for the good stuff, pictures!!

The girls (yes I look spazzy)

Us

Big bunny girl

Buggy

Mini me

Little bitty

Me and hubs

Slacker Checking In

Be forewarned that this will be a boring and long winded post, but I have been busy the last couple of days and I want to document it!!
So I missed post yesterday and just made it to post today, only because I'm using the blogger app. I am about to fall asleep and have a bit of a stomach ache!
Yesterday was regular work and then hubs and I went to CVS, Target and two markets. We didn't even eat dinner until after 8, which is crazy late for us!
Today I actually got up and ran before work, I got 5 miles in! Then i headed to work again and it was SO busy, Easter is always crazy, but I was surprised by how busy today was. And to top it off I got stung by a wasp and it hurt like hell!!! After work I came home, we got little bitty, went to the market again and then little bitty an I baked an angel food cake while hubs mowed the lawn. I am a total spaz and didn't flip the cake over immediately and so it fell, ugh! So I tasted it (it was paleoish, but did have sugar). It tasted fine so I threw together another (which I may have burned slightly). I also made a salad, broccoli salad and cut veggies for snacks. Tasting the cake has given me a headache and a tummy ache, yuck!!
Now it is time to crash for the long ass day at work tomorrow!

Thrree Things Thursday and #HAWMC Day 5

Not sure how I missed publishing this post last night, but I did, so here it is now (not that anyone would have missed much if I hadn't posted it).

1. Today I went on a field trip to the zoo with my Buggy's class. We had a ton of fun and got to see a newborn giraffe during our tour, in fact if we had gone to that area first we might have seen her being born!!

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There she is!!

2. Prep for the weekend is a big project. Hubs and I both work tomorrow and Saturday and then I work at 5:45 on Sunday!! We are only having 3 people over besides the six of us, but we've never hosted a holiday meal so it's a big deal! Tomorrow we will be buying goodies for the girls Easter baskets and looking for a ham (which neither of us have ever made, eek!).

3. I didn't get up and run this morning and I won't be tonight either, I am just feeling overwhelmed with things that we need to get done, so much so that I don't feel like doing anything. But, really I know that we will get everything done and I'm just being lazy and using it as an excuse!! Going to have to get it done tomorrow (or I'll skip my short run since I also need to find a way to fit in my long run this week).

Today's post is different, it is the Ekphrasis Post. On Day 1 we discussed that images can help tell stories, but on the flip side images can also inspire stories. Today’s challenge is one for the eyes. Go to flickr.com/explore. The webpage automatically generates a random photo (or you can refresh your page to see a new photo.)

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This Bald Eagle is the image that showed up for me the first time. I loved it immediately! It reminds me of so many great things. Birds of Prey are gorgeous and strong and free! I love looking at the eagles when they come to nest at the lake where I work, they always amaze me with their strength and beauty. After that the image invoked a sense of pride, the Bald Eagle is our National bird, it always makes me think of the strength and beauty of our country (thank goodness this is our National bird, not the turkey!!). I looked at a few more photos after the first, just to see what popped up and if any of them were more interest to me, but I stuck with the Bald Eagle because he was so majestic.


It’s not too late! And even though Health Activist Writer’s Month is underway – you can still check out the prompts to use any time you may want an idea for your blog. Click here to get for all 30 prompts.



Prepping for Easter and Why I Blog HAWMC Day 4

Today has been a great day! I slept in and woke up feeling great. I realized this morning that I haven't had even one migraine since starting to eat paleo, this is huge for me since I usually get at least 2 a month! So I was obviously eating SOMETHING that was triggering them! Mini me is on spring break so we took the other girls to school and then headed out to do some shopping, mostly looking, but it was enjoyable. Then we headed out to the library and got a TON of new books to read! I love that my girls are such voracious readers! After that we came home for lunch and played games until it was time to pick everyone else up, notice I didn't say I worked out (yet). When we got home again I finally decided to give up the lazy act and get my workout in, I did the circuit part and got a mile and a little over a quarter of the run portion done until 2 calls from work happened that made me decide I was done. We had a great dinner (if I do say so myself!) of chile verde, asparagus and melon (with tostada shells for the girls).
Tomorrow is early slow run so that I can then go on a field trip to the zoo with my Buggy. I'm excited, I love the zoo, and we're having a guide this time so that is even more exciting to me (putting on my nerd glasses) I love learning new things!!!

When I saw today's prompt I was thrilled! I love stories and I'm excited to talk about me, especially because I think it is time to share about something health related that I don't talk about all that often, I've NEVER talked about it on my blog, it's nothing I have even talked to my mom about (don't freak out when you read this mom!). When I thought about why I blog about my health and eating and running I know that it is mostly to keep me accountable and for the support.
I was never athletic when I was a child, I tried lots of things, but nothing stuck until I started swimming and playing water polo my sophomore year of high school. I really LOVED it! Then I started college and intended to play water polo, but decided I didn't want to deal with practice, I liked staying up all hours of the night and didn't want to deal with spending so much time in the pool, so I quit. Very little exercise, lots of food (including the dining hall Tuesday and Thursday midnight snack bar, which was awesome) and quite a bit of alcohol caused me to gain a good bit of weight in the first couple of months of school. Something clicked over our fall break and I started exercising twice a day and then that wasn't enough, I had a roommate that had food issues and she would binge, I never saw her purge but she was quite thin so I assumed she did. I decided this might be a good way to lose weight, so I ate everything I wanted and then I purged. I got thin quickly and was quite happy. This continued on for quite sometime, I never got skeletal (I got down to about 115, which is quite thin for my 5'5 1/2" body, but not scary). No one really noticed anything odd, or at least they never confronted me. After about 2 years of throwing up pretty regularly I read a book about a girl who died when her heart stopped while purging, it freaked me out so I decided to try to stop. For the most part I did, but I had gotten so used to throwing up when I overate that even now if I overindulge I will most likely throw up, not forcing it to happen, it just does. I have talked to a therapist about my issue and know a lot of what caused me to go that way, but in general I hate talking about it and focusing on it.
In order to be a healthy role model for my girls, to be healthy and live a long life for me (and them and hubs) I decided that exercise is necessary for me. And wanting to run races developed through my exercising. When I started to train for my first half I started to read running blogs and loved what I was getting out of reading other peoples experiences. I decided I wanted to share my journey, hoping to give back to the blogosphere.
My evolving paleo diet is something I am glad to share too, it's great to give my take on what's working for me and to read about what works for others.
I'm still just finding my way to what works for me and I hope you guys are enjoying reading about my journey to the best me I can be, I enjoy sharing it you.

Now tell me, why do you blog?

It’s not too late! And even though Health Activist Writer’s Month is underway – you can still check out the prompts to use any time you may want an idea for your blog. Click here to get for all 30 prompts.

I Wanna Be A Superhero #HAWMC

I've been thinking about today's HAWMC prompt since I saw it this morning. What superpower would I want if I could have one. There are so many that I think would be wonderful! The ability to fly would be great, reading minds would NOT thrill me (I really don't want to know what everyone is thinking all the time), having a photographic memory would be a nice change from my mind like a sieve! I the end I decided I'd love to be like Evie on Out of This World

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(please tell me I'm not the only one that remembers this show!)

Granted Evie wasn't exactly a superhero, she was a half human/half alien girl who realized she had alien powers when she turned 13. The big power Evie had was that she could freeze time, what a wonderful thing to be able to do for a busy mom!
A few extra hours in the day to get chores done, to take a nap, to exercise! It would be great to do all the things I have to do when time is frozen so I don't miss out on time with my family or time to be healthy and active. There are so many things I could do with the ability to freeze time to make me healthier, both physically and mentally! The potential downfall of my imagined superpower, my kryptonite if you will, would be that I might use my power a bit too much for a break or make other people feel bad that I get so much done (now I know how those crazy amazing moms who bake every day, make EVERYTHING from scratch, have spotless houses, look amazing all the time and don't seem to think there is anything impressive about it do it, they have super powers!!)

So, if you could have any superpower would would it be?


Participating in #HAWMC? Tweet us a link to your Day 3 post using the #HAWMC hashtag and be sure to share your post on the wall of our WEGO Health Facebook page - so others can read your posts!

It’s not too late! And even though Health Activist Writer’s Month is underway – you can still check out the prompts to use any time you may want an idea for your blog. Click here to get for all 30 prompts.

Be the Change HAWMC

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Today's #HAWMC post is your favorite quote and this one really speaks to me. I want to be a driving force to make the world a better place. I want to show my girls what it is to do good things, not just for myself and for them, but for the Earth. I want to know that I am doing the best I can in everything I do, not just get by.

I adore Dr. Seuss and The Lorax is my very favorite book of his, he really made great points without being overly pushy. And I think they did a great job updating the book with the movie, unless we care and do something, we will all be breathing canned air and everything will be fake and "better". So, I will do the best I can to be the healthiest, greenest, kindest person I can and at the same time teach my babies to do the same.

A Time Capsule - HAWMC Day 1

This month is Health Activist Writers Month and every day a new challenge is posted for people to write about. Today's challenge is to write about what you would include in a time capsule to be opened in 2112.

There are so many things I would want to include in a time capsule for someone to open in 2112. First would be photos of my family and descriptions of who they are.

My amazing girls

Love this man

My parents (stolen from my mom's Facebook)

After that I'd include (in no particular order) -

A pair of my favorite running shoes

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The medal from my first half marathon this year, to show that I did it.

Fuel - Since I've gone paleo I'd put a Larabar and some Nuun in there.

My Garmin - I don't run naked so the Garmin is a must for me.

My running playlist - the songs that keep me going.

I would also include some of my very favorite books, those I've read alone and those I've read with my girls. Most likely that would mean just throwing my Kindle in the capsule.

And then I'd include my wishes that those who find and open  my time capsule are happy and healthy. That our world is happy and healthy. That there aren't wars raging, that hunger and obesity aren't issues. That beauty is about strength and intelligence, not the size of a waist or a chest. That people are still running and loving and living in a world that I home my great great grandchildren are enjoying.

What would you include in your time capsule on your healthy living journey?
The Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge hosted by WEGO Health. I will be writing a post a day for all 30 days. You can join me in writing every day about health. It's going to be a lot of fun and I'd love to see what you have to say about each of the topics, too. All you have to do to join is sign up here:http://info.wegohealth.com/HAWMC2012 and and write up a post today, since its already APRIL!! Looking forward to writing with you! 

30 Days 30 Posts Challenge

I am notorious for only posting a couple of times a week, so the logical thing to do is join a challenge where I have to post every day during the month of April. But, I went and did it anyway.
The Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge hosted by WEGO Health. I will be writing a post a day for all 30 days. I hope you'll join me in writing every day about health. It's going to be a lot of fun and I'd love to see what you have to say about each of the topics, too. All you have to do to join is sign up here: http://info.wegohealth.com/HAWMC2012

I'll be back later tonight to post my health time capsule.