Friday Things: Kids, Man...

I cannot get out of town soon enough; kind of like the last time I was going out of town...  This week my kindergartner has acted up at school every. single. day. bringing his bad mojo home with him.  He's getting awesome grades, above standard in pretty much all of his academics; but, man, his ability to follow directions and impulsive tendencies are, um, shall we say slightly sub par.  I re-read this post often to remind myself that he is my limit tester and always springs back to being mostly agreeable - that is, until he feels like really pushing my limits again.  I seem to remember that both my kids go through some "growing pains" right around their birthdays - we're a week out from baby girl's third and two weeks from big brother's sixth.  Hopefully six will bring a wealth of maturity...

Gratuitous recent pic for grandparents (and hey, look! they're sharing! unicorns exist!)

Thankfully, they sure are cute and funny.  The other day big brother asked if he could get a shiny ring like mine (referring to my engagement ring).  

"Yep buddy - one day, if you decide to get married, you can get a ring to wear, too."  

"I can't WAIT to get married!  I wonder who I'm going to marry... D'you know, mommy?" 
"Oh, man, I wish I knew - I can't wait either." 
"I think I want a Transformer ring...  Can you tell them that that's what I'd like?"
*dying of laughter, thinking about how I'm going to tell this story to his future wife* "Sure bud."

I really need to write down more of these exchanges, because they happen rather frequently and make me smile.  As did this awesome post a friend shared on Facebook today: "To Parents of Small Children."

OK, time to sign off, put this up:

Image via goneforarun.com (maybe I should get one of these?)

Adding this song to the playlist: Feel this Moment by Pitbull, featuring Christina Aguilera.  Yah, it's a bit overplayed, but it definitely puts some pep in my step and has a great 80's throwback element.  In case you're too young to remember, they sample this song.  It's such a classic video from the 80s, I think I'll share it instead of the one for Feel this Moment:

Happy Eugene weekend!!

2013 Playlist

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

Eugene Training and a Run for Boston

Since talking about my decision to switch from the marathon to the half, I haven't shared much about my training.  As with my last two half marathons, I adapted the Train Like a Mother 'Own It' half marathon plan.  I've been following all of the prescribed weekday workouts (mainly lots of good intervals and tempos), with the exception of the long runs.  Even though I've been feeling great after a month of therapy (from a great chiro), I wanted to take the longer ones by feel.  Surprisingly, I've done as much or more preparation for this half as for my last two.  For the See Jane Run half, I did one 10 miler about three weeks prior and one 9 miler about two weeks out from race day.  Before the Seattle half, I did a 10 and then 12 mile run.  Other than that, my long runs were around 6 miles.  In training for Eugene, I really got a confidence boost by using the Hot Chocolate 15K as a training run and kept my long workouts in the 8-9 mile range until doing a 10 and 11 miler in the last few weeks leading up to my visit to Track Town.  

I'm really hoping to keep around 2:05, or at least get it done in less than 2:07 for some comeback mojo/redemption from my meltdown in the Seattle half.  But my longstanding goal keeps looming in the back of my head: maaaaaybe I'll be feeling SO great that I'll eke out a sub 2 hour race.  So, yeah, that's always in the back of my head.  It may be my pie in the sky goal after having my little hamstring setback, but I hear Eugene is magic...  Plus, the weather in the Pacific Northwest is absolutely gorgeous right now, and the forecast for Eugene is lookin' GOOD.

To cap off my training, on Monday I participated in Seattle's #BostonStrong run, which was a nice and easy 5K loop around Greenlake alongside more than 200 of our running community with funds donated to The One Fund.

beautiful day for a run

There's already such great camaraderie around runners (as I've mentioned before) and since the events in Boston, it can be felt more than ever.  It was so great to see so many familiar faces.

Rebecca, Meghan, me, Lauren (pic stolen from Rebecca)

  I can't wait to see even more familiar faces this weekend: there are TWENTY of us from the Oiselle team running and probably half as many coming just to cheer!  You can check out the list of who's racing here.  Is is wrong to admit that I'm almost equally excited to sit by myself in my car for 5 hours each way listening to audiobooks?  Wait, don't answer that.

This Weeks Eats 4.21.13

I can't believe it's Eugene Marathon week! (Well, now half Marathon for me.) I'm so pumped to run my 5th half, have a weekend all to myself(!), meet so many teammates and tweeps, and EAT.  I've talked before of Yumm Bowls, and hopefully I'll get to try one firsthand while I'm down there.  I'm also very intrigued by the Laughing Planet's menu - specifically, the Bollywood Bowl.  I think we need more 'bowl' offerings here in Seattle.  I'm slightly addicted to the burrito bowls from Chipotle, and need to branch out.  I made reservations for dinner out Saturday night with some teammates, but we do have some room at our table; give me a shout if you're going to be there and want to join us!

I'm also excited about trying some tasty beverages: we're hitting up Ninkasi Brewery after the race and I'm dying to finally try Dutch Bros. coffee.  If anyone has any other must eat while in Eugene (I think my must-do list is full), please let me know!  Prior to heading south, here's what's on the menu:

• Monday - Pizza
• Tuesday - Greek Turkey Meatball Salad
• Wednesday - Baked Chicken Taquitos
• Thursday - Penne with Vodka Sauce
• Friday - Sunday - EUGENE!

Linking up with Mommy Run Fast and Jill Conyers - go check out other great weekly menus here.  Also linking up with Rachel at In No Simple Language, so check out the menus here, too!

Friday Things, Boston and the Unimaginable

Okay, I feel like I can write again now.  It's kinda late in the day for Friday things, but I was a bit distracted by the news today and I've been a little quiet over here in my teeny corner of the internet.  After Monday, I just couldn't articulate a single thought about my feelings on what happened in Boston, let alone any other random topic.  I tried several times to start a post and just failed.  Here are two unfailingly awesome posts: Outside the Comfort Zone, and Sweat Once a Day.  I think anyone who's ever participated in an athletic event or a community event (which is everyone?) has the same feelings.  It being a road race just made things hit a little closer to home.  Unimaginable...

It feels like there is some closure tonight with the suspects being caught, but man, this week in general...  Yeah, I still don't have a lot of words, so I'll just share some things that made me smile or laugh this Friday.    

I shared this on Twitter yesterday, it bears repeating:

Original can be found here, on Colbert Nation.

Just in case you haven't seen the Onion and Gawker articles making the rounds this week, click on the links.

I never watch Hells Kitchen, but I'm a big fan of the Swedish Chef:

from Awkward Elevator

Hopefully this has made you smile; and now, here are a few ways to help:

• If you're local, come on out to the Greenlake Monday Night Run
• Or go to the mastermind behind the #BostonStrong movement to find a run near you at Pavement Runner
• Tribute runs and fundraisers via Skinny Runner
• 10 ways to support Boston via Another Mother Runner
• Donate to Challenged Athletes Foundation to help victims with prosthetics
• Buy some Oiselle #runforboston collection
• The best way to donate funds for West, TX - Red Cross

And I'll add a little throwback song from the early 90s onto the playlist from a native to Boston band, the Lemonheads.  Into Your Arms is a sweet and reassuring song that brings me back to my carefree youth. 

Happy freaking Friday y'all.

2013 Playlist

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

This Weeks Eats 4.15.13

Edited to add that I'm heartbroken about what happened in Boston today and am grateful all of our Oiselle team runners and everyone I know that ran the marathon is okay.  Sending thoughts to those who's loved ones were hurt in this tragedy...


I forgot to mention that for our Oiselle girls night out to Skillet, I tried poutine for the first time.  I'd heard the name before, but wasn't quite sure what it was - from Wikipedia: a typical Canadian dish (originally from Quebec), made with french fries, topped with brown gravy and curd cheese.  

Um, yeah, that was pretty good.  As was my burger with bacon jam and, one of my absolute favorite food items, blue cheese.  Although I think I was sweating bacon and felt like I needed to go on a fast for at least two days afterwards.  Can't wait to go again!

• Monday - Pizza
• Tuesday - Green Curry Turkey Meatballs (pushed this one back from last week 'cuz we felt like taking the kids to Red Robin!)
• Wednesday - Chicken and Veggie Kebabs with hummus and quinoa (for the veggies we use red onion, zucchini, peppers, cremini mushrooms and drizzle 'em with olive oil and Grill Mates)
• Thursday - Country Club Chicken and rice (a surprisingly tasty recipe I found via Pinterest)
• Friday - Spicy Avocado Enchiladas (I always double the sauce for this recipe and freeze half, so all I have to do is assemble the tortillas and filling!)
• Saturday - Seven Flavor Beef (yes, again.)
• Sunday - Baked Ziti (trying a new recipe from Cooks Illustrated found via Pinterest)

By the by, I've still been linking up with Mommy Run Fast and Jill Conyers - go check out other great weekly menus here.  And I started linking up with Rachel at In No Simple Language, so check out the great menus here, too!

Friday Things, on Feminism

This week, I'm goin' with a theme for Friday Things because there are so many empowering messages for women (I just can't go with 'girl power' - makes me throw up in my mouth a wee bit..) that I came across this week and have to share.  First up, the incomparable Lauren Fleshman.  I had the pleasure of seeing her not just once, but twice this week.  First for a little baby shower and run around Greenlake with our pillow babies (oh, I also got to run and chat for a bit alongside Alysia Montano: Olympian and a gal who just broke the American 600m indoor record), followed by fun and food - specifically, breakfast burritos from Agua Verde.  Yuuum.  

Pic stolen from Oiselle's Facebook (I love Sally's pose in this one)

Lauren was still in town last night and came out for a little team outing to Skillet; we even sat next to each other over dinner and totally shot the sh*t.  It was so great to talk with my teammates and Lauren about everything and nothing: from our first viewings of Friday the 13th (we both saw it under the supervision of our respective babysitters) to what she eats before a race.  So, the empowering part: her first Runners World column came out this week and it perfectly conveys the way she is in real life: funny, articulate, sweet and sincere.  Go read it now!

Me n' my new BFF

I also came across Amy Poehler's Youtube channel this week: "Smart Girls at the Party."  All of it is pure GOLD.  This is the best right here:

A seven year old's take on feminism.

And today, I finally listened to Another Mother Runner's podcast interview with Kara Goucher.  Absolutely fascinating listening to her talk about her training regimen as it relates to altitude and thinking in minutes vs. miles.  The best part is that she feels that she's much stronger after becoming a mom, and I think many of us can relate to that kind of empowerment.

As many of you already know, the Boston Marathon is on Monday and I will be cheering my head off for Kara (and her buddy Shalane) as well as a good chunk of my Twitter feed (GOOOO Chanthana!) and the eleven women from the Oiselle Team!

To wrap up this Friday's theme, I'm throwing Pink's 'Just Give me a Reason' onto the playlist even though it's not exactly a running tune.  She's just all kinds of kick ass and I've been torturing my kids by belting this song out in the car when it comes on the radio (which is quite a bit these days).  Yeah, it's overplayed, but her harmonizing with Nate Ruess (of Fun) is just gorgeous.

Happy weekend!

2013 Playlist
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

Books I Read in March & Recent Kids Books

I did some major slacking on book reading last month; I only got through two - reviews are at the end of this post.  I blame this on the appeal of Jax Teller and our addiction to Sons Of Anarchy.  We burned through season four, leaving little time for anything else in our free time.  But now we have to wait for season five to air this summer, or appear on Netflix, so I've already read one book and started another for April.

Anyhoo!  I've found a lot of great children's books from blogs; Little Blue Truck became a classic for both of my kids thanks to Emily at the Style Lush Blog and I love Everyday Reading's posts on books for the younger set.  I always star them in my Google reader (yes, I'm still deciding on whether to switch to Feedly or Blog Lovin) and pull up the posts whenever I'm at the library - which is to say, at least once or twice week.

So here's what we're reading 'round these parts, with the exception of all the nonfiction that my 6 year old mainly reads these days.  Sometimes we'll get on a streak of books about the solar system, construction vehicles or various animals, but he almost always wants books about marine life; we've had octopus, squid, whale, and starfish phases to name a few.  Right now we're on a shark kick (with books about Nurse Sharks and Bull Sharks this week).  If you're looking for nice little short books about such subjects for your young one, let me know.  Otherwise, here are the fun stories I've been reading with both kiddos (age 3 and 6).

1. The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog by Mo Willems - My daughter is a huge fan of this book and all other books about the pigeon and his shenanigans.  If you have kids in your life and no Mo Willems, you need to get some, stat.  The Elephant and Piggie books are great for my 6 year old, who's starting to read on his own now.  All of his books are entertaining for kids and adults alike.

2. C is for Coco by Sloane Tanen - This was one of my sons favorites and now my daughter loves it as well.  Plus, I'm a sucker for books that rhyme.  

3. Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard - This was a find through Everyday Reading and both kids get a kick out of it, as do I.

4. Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dwedney - I didn't discover Llama books until last fall and I was kind of sad that my boy missed out on them until now.  These sweet books chronicle predicaments that most toddlers find themselves in and my girl loves them; I love that they rhyme and that when she's having a fit I can say "No more llama drama!" and she'll usually stop and laugh.

5. Pete the Cat by Eric Litwin - My son did a song and dance number to this book with his pre-K class well over a year ago and just brought it home from his school library the other day.  He still has a soft spot for it and has now introduced this classic character to his little sister.  I think it's got a great message for all, "Just keep walkin' along and singin' your song."  We're slowly working our way through all the Pete the Cat books.

6. Wild About You by Judy Sierra - Again, I really love books that rhyme and this one's got such a sweet message about the love we have for our kids as parents and that families can come in all shapes and sizes.

7. Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems - Yes, another Willems book; it's hilarious and we all love it and read it almost daily, so I had to include it. 

8. Minerva Louise by Janet Morgan Stoeke - I first discovered Minerva when browsing for Christmas books from the library and OH MY GOD, Minerva Louise on Christmas Eve is the best kids Christmas book ever!  So now we're enjoying more of Minerva's silly antics.

9. The Napping House by Audrey Wood - This is one of my daughter's favorites before bed and even though it's gets so repetitive to read, I just love the gorgeous illustrations and the way they convey a rainy and sleepy day as it turns to a bright and exuberant one.




The Likeness by Tana French

This book had a really unique premise and started off tense and thrilling. I was glad to follow more of Cassie Maddox and her story after tearing through 'In The Woods.' But, somewhere along the way, it lost steam for me. I guess I didn't care enough about the victim to really want to know who killed her, and I didn't much care for any of the suspects, so I didn't want to know much more about them. Meh.



The Magicians by Lev Grossman

So my husband read this and thought it was entertaining - sort of like a gritty mashup of Harry Potter and the Chronicles Narnia, and how things would be if magic really existed in the modern world. I was sad to say that I didn't agree with him. Most people's negative reviews on this book have to do with the misanthropic main character being just so unlikable; I would agree with this, but I don't have a problem with unlikable characters in books (like Gone Girl), as long as there's a plot. It didn't seem like there was one here, at least not that I could find - it's just a long description of interesting events. There were some fun and creative bits, but on the whole, I wouldn't recommend.

This Weeks Eats 4.7.13

One of my big to-do items got crossed off this week and I'm really, really excited about it:

Yep, I made my own loaf of bread - two, in fact.  I've never made sandwich bread from scratch.  Sure, I've made plenty of quick-breads - banana bread is practically a food group in our house.  We also make our own pizza dough and cinnamon rolls for Christmas.  But, I think the universe was giving me a little help with the to-do list when a friend gave me some Amish Friendship Bread starter last week!  Have you heard about this stuff?  It's like a baking yeast chain letter and really rather fun, and TASTY.  I even cheated on our weekly Sunday pancakes and made some phenomenal French toast with it this morning.

So, if I show up to any gatherings with a big Ziploc of gunk, don't be alarmed - I might just pass it along to you...

• Monday - Pizza
• Tuesday - Chili Chicken 
• Wednesday - Green Curry Turkey Meatballs
• Thursday - girls night out with some Oiselle ladies!
• Friday - Mac and Cheese (pushed this back from last week, as I was lucky enough to get a last minute mom's night out going with friends)
• Saturday - Beer Braised Beef with Marsala Mushroom Sauce and Mashed Potatoes
• Sunday - Crockpot Enchilada Soup

Friday Things

It's been a pretty blah week around here, spent with everyone going through the rounds of a head cold.  I kind of dialed down my workouts because I still felt pretty run down.  Today, I thought I'd blow off the 10 miler I wanted to get done, figuring I could just do one in the next few weeks before Eugene and be fine; I didn't.  I thought it was going to rain; it didn't.  I thought I'd be to cold, since I left my arm warmers at home; I wasn't.  I told myself to just try and get as many miles in during my two hour window - yay! the Y increased the daycare time limit from 1 1/2 hours to 2!  

Mini Me was just as happy to have that extra 30 minutes

I got pretty tired around mile 7, but nothing hurt and I reminded myself that the way I was feeling at that moment might not be how I'd feel in another few miles.  

Can't get enough of these shoes!

I kept going and was really happy to hit those double digits again.  It's been over two months since I've gone for a 10 mile run (before all the chiro and PT bizness) and I felt/feel really good.  Love it when a good run happens in spite of myself, like it was meant to happen.

So, I'm going to a baby shower tomorrow!  It has been quite a few years since I've been to one and I'm really rather excited.  I'll finally get to meet Lauren, and celebrate her impending motherhood.  But, um, how about this for party favor?

Stolen from Oiselle's Instagram feed

OMG, I die.  This is gonna be EPIC.  


My other favorite funny I saw this week, thanks to Sally's twitter:

Now we all know what a girls makeup means!

And on a more serious note, I must pay homage to hometown hero (as well as fellow Illini grad) Roger Ebert.  

from the Chicago Tribune

Here's a fun read from Mental Floss on ten movies Ebert hated. 

I heard a snippet of an interview with the chick from Icona Pop on the radio the other day; she talked about how 'I Love It' is about that moment after you've gone through a breakup and get to the point where you're no longer sad - just mad and OVER IT.  I thought she sounded pretty bad ass, just like the song.  Enjoy and happy weekend!

I Love It by Icona Pop

2013 Playlist

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

March 2013 in Pictures

1. Space Needle on Hot Chocolate packet pickup day
2. Yooooo Gabba Gabba
3. Mmmmm Chocolate
4. Muno keeps looking at me
5. Bedhead
6. Bold duck at the Y

7. My favorite Girl Scout Cookies
8. Spring flowers
9. Tree heart
10. Pug torture
11. Car wash, always exciting
12. Midweek trip to Jimmy Johns, also very exciting

13. Ahoy Matey!
14. My new favorite Saturday drink, I stocked up on this stuff from Cost Plus
15. It's a potty party 'round these parts..
16. Cherry blossoms
17. French toast day
18. Leprechaun trap

19. Sunrise
20. Really good soup
21. "I like T-Rex because he has a super sense of smell and great eyesight."
22. Bunny ears
23. First day of spring - SNOW!
24. TOMS

25. See-saw
26. Mommy alone time
27. Goal!
28. Park day
29. Jellies
30. Happy Easter

Oiselle Giveaway WINNER!

Thanks so much to all who entered the big blog anniversary giveaway!  I love that my personal Twitter party has grown quite a bit over the last week and I'm looking forward to commiserating with all of you.  Alas, there can be only one winner - and that person is....

Lisa Ngai!

Lisa, shoot me an email: agibson60657 at yahoo dot com with your size and shipping info!