Product Placement

The joy in life comes from the little things, right? Just wanted to share with ALL of my loyal readers (the 3-4 of you still out there) what things bring me a little joy these days.

MAD MEN
Oh how I love this show. Christian and I have been watching it on Instant Netflix and we are hooked. We are 1/2 way through season 4 and love discussing these complex characters. Not sure why I didn't join this bandwagon sooner, but glad I finally did. Not to mention, Don Draper is some FINE eye candy ladies!

Echinacea Tea is my new wonder drug. I have been trying to do more holistic remedies lately (not that I will EVER give up IBU profin) and this tea is a proven miracle drug. I have been drinking 1-2 cups a day when I start to feel sick and it has been fighting my colds like a charm. When I am feeling healthy I try to drink a cup a week just to keep my immune system at peak functioning levels.
Have I mentioned that I am totally becoming an herbal tea junkie? There are so many delicious flavors and it is the perfect trick to warm up in the morning and no calories to boot.

Please direct your eyes to the lovely head band I am wearing in this picture.

A woman was selling them at the Hartford Health Expo when I was there for my 1/2 marathon. I have always tried to wear a headband when I workout, the idea is great, but they always slip of my big noggin.
I have found the BEST headband EVER!
These are called GLAM Headbands, they are non-slip adjustable headbands with special grip slips.
I wore this bad boy my entire race and it never moved!!!!
AMAZING!
I have short hair so this is such a wonderful find for when I hit the gym. I have been wearing it constantly and plan to get a few more because they are so super duper awesome.
If you are interested you can find them online at
www.glamheadbands.com
They are affordable and you get free shipping if you spend $25. A pretty good Christmas gift if you ask me.

I am always looking for a good book to read (not that I create much time for myself to actually read a book if I find one). I recently read Bossypants written by Tina Fey and it was hysterical! Tina writes just like she talks; if you are in need of a good laugh you should pick up this book. It will pick up your mood and have you laughing out loud. Comical genius!

Go to Bath and Body Works, buy this minty deliciousness for your lips.
It will change your life.

This tooth paste is Da Bomb!!! Try it, you'll love it. It is like a party in your mouth! Then put that minty lip gloss on and you are good to go in the oral hygiene department!
Seriously so good!

So those are my little joys as of late.
It is important to remember those little things when life seems overwhelming and hard.
What are some of your little joys?

All Hallows Eve

This year Berkeley decided he wanted to be a cowboy for Halloween. Grandma Sorrels bought him his outfit and all he needed was some cowboy boots. I let him help me pick out the boots; he was so excited he was going to get Mater (from Cars) cowboy boots. The day they arrived he was so happy and was cheering; we couldn't open the package fast enough. The kid was IN LOVE with his boots. Twenty minutes later, I put the boots on him and he is having a complete and utter meltdown to get the boots off!!! He refused to walk in them, he HATED them! I tried again a couple days later and got the same reaction.
As we were getting ready for our Halloween Party Saturday night I told him he got to wear his special boots with his costume. I took them out of the box and set them on the table...this pictures is worth a thousand words. Just seeing the boots put the kid into meltdown mode.
"Put the boots in the box Mommy!" Needless to say, no cowboy boots were worn to the party.
How can a love fade so fast? I thought every little boy needed a pair of cowboy boots, but apparently I was wrong.

We attended the 4th Annual Donigard Halloween Party this year. This party is always AMAZING and so much fun. Bonnie and Kate do some of the coolest decorating for a party I have ever seen, this year did not disappoint.
We went as a bowling ball and pin this year. We didn't win any prize, but we felt good about our costumes.
Berke was a pretty adorable cowboy, even without his cowboy boots.
I love his cheesin' it up smile! Yeehaw!

Here are some great costumes from the party:
Don and Betty Draper from Mad Men
The Ron Swanson Family from Parks and Recreation
Snow White and Gimli from Lord of the Rings

Edgar Allan Poe and his Raven, Legolas from Lord of the Rings, the Mad Hatter and the HULK

Did I mention that it totally snowed that night? Yep, it was pretty slippery driving home and I was pretty mad to bring my snow boots out in October...but what can you do?

The next day we made Halloween cookies and potato ghosts. We skipped the pumpkin carving this year, it just didn't happen. As we delivered the cookies to our neighbors I was not surprised the 3 out of 4 of them had a special Halloween treat ready to go for Berkeley. Two of them even had cards for him; it was the sweetest thing. We could not ask for better neighbors.

Halloween Night we ate pizza and went trick o treating with this cute duck and cow.

Berke came down with a cold Sunday, so he and his little frog voice were not in the best of spirits for going door to door. Once we got in the wagon, he refused to wear his cowboy hat, hold his trick-o-treat bag or have a good time in general. I had big hopes for the adorable streets we would walk around, but we only made it to the top of the hill before this little Sheriff had had enough!

He was happy with his loot however. Not bad for going to 7 houses. He quickly ate his M&M's as our little family watched The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and then we headed to bed early.

Remember when we were little and we mostly got smarites and tootsie rolls? Everyone gives out chocolate these days...so much better than when I was a kid.

Kate and Colin'd

It was SO much darn fun havin' Kate and Colin visit us; they were great guests and are lots of fun to be around. I have never seen anyone who could nerd out with Christian so well, it was pretty awesome. Lets just say there was a lot of talk about fonts and awesome topics like that during the trip.
This was Colin and Kate's first time to the East Coast, so we had to make sure they fell in love with it and wanted to come back. We took them to Salem, which is always a fun place to visit this time of year. Berkeley was MAJORLY freaked out by many of the people who dressed up there, but he found a lot of comfort being in his stroller, which worked out for everyone involved.

Instead of driving to Salem, we decided to take the Commuter Rail into town, which turned out to be a lot of fun and way better than dealing with traffic. These boys are too funny when they get together!

We had a great tour on the Salem trolley and learned a lot of history about the town. Salem is a beautiful city and has a lot of neat history besides the witch trials.
The house below is the house where the movie HOCUS POCUS was filmed, which just happens to be my FAVORITE Halloween movie of all time.

Who knew that Salem was so beautiful?

Everyone also got to visit the Peabody Essex Museum while I walked Berke around the ocean so he could nap (which worked like a charm!) They loved seeing the cool art. We also ate yummy Italian food in the North End and had cannolis from Mikes Pastry. There was also exploring of Downtown Boston, the MFA and lots of late night laughs.
It was so good to have them visit.
Berke especially LOVED playing with his "friends" and could not get enough of "the guy" and Kate. There were great to play with him nonstop and give him lots of attention.
Tonight he said, "I want to play with my friends again."

Hartford 1/2 Marathon

One of my New Year's Resolutions this year was to run a marathon. I thought it would be the perfect time as I was in the best shape I have ever been in. What I didn't calculate was the amount of time it would take to train for such an event. Working 40 hours, being a mother, wife and friend didn't leave enough time for the intense training a marathon requires. I started becoming way too stressed because I had already signed up for the Hartford, CT Marathon and I didn't want to lose out on my registration fee. During one of my runs, I realized the marathon training was not doable in my current situation and that I would switch my registration to the Hartford 1/2 Marathon instead.
I have decided that since I ran the Boston Run to Remember 1/2 Marathon and the Hartford 1/2 Marathon this year that technically counts as a full Marathon right? Thus I have met my goal.

Anyhooo, when we were in Utah this summer, we were visiting with Christian's college buddy, Colin and his wife Kate. They passively stated they would love to come out; maybe if there was a race they could come for a visit. They didn't know that I had a race ready for them to run; what I didn't expect is that they would actually come out and visit us.

Colin and Kate took a red eye to Boston from Salt Lake and arrive early Friday morning. We left around noon and headed to Hartford, CT. We decided to take McDuff with us this weekend as he is always getting left behind. Christian failed to read the hotel policy about pets and how there is an extra charge of $200. We are VERY lucky that we have good friends, the Hammonds who live in Hartford, and wonderfully took our dog for the night so we could avoid the extra cost.

We carbo loaded Friday night and then woke up and headed to the race. When we walked out of the hotel we were greeted by this gorgeous sunrise.

We drove to downtown Hartford where our friend Kim had a parking spot at her work all ready for us, which was beyond awesome, as the parking was a nightmare! It was great that the entire Hammond Family came out to cheer me on and help Christian with the dog and the boy. Their kids feel in love with Mr. McDuff and we were so happy he was in such good hands.
Here is my cute family before the race.

This is my 3rd Half Marathon and instead of training for endurance, this time I trained to increase my speed. I have never been a fast runner and run a 10:45-11:00 minute mile. As I trained I was able to maintain a speed of about 10:30 minute during my long runs. My goal was to beat my previous 1/2 marathon time of 2 hours 18 minutes. I was so nervous on race day, I always get race day nerves. This was my first 1/2 running by myself, without my gal Kelly.
I started running and the adrenalin kicked in; I was monitoring my speed on my Nike GPS watch and I was making good time. I knew this would be my last 1/2 marathon for a while and I wanted all my training to be worth it. I ran my little heart out; my ipod was filled with a pumpin' new play list and I was pushing myself hard. The race course was absolutely beautiful and the entire town came out to cheer us on. I felt like it was a little mini Boston Marathon with the amount of people cheering. As we ran through neighborhoods, everyone was out with their cow bells and signs cheering us on. My favorite sign read, "Status Update: Kicking Ass!"
I really started getting tired around mile 8, my legs were feeling the speed I was pushing on them; this is when the mental game kicked in for me and I had to talk myself through the rest of the race. I was so proud that I did not stop once during the race. At mile 12 I felt like dying and wasn't sure I could maintain a fast pace and at that point told my body it could slow down and just finish, but my legs just didn't want to slow down because ahead I could see my friends the Hammonds and my sweet family cheering me on. Seeing them gave me the energy to push through to the very end. I was so happy when I crossed the finish line, 13.1 miles completed! My official time 2:07:30 which was a 9:44 minute mile. HOLY CRAP! I was SO proud of myself and still cannot believe I ran that fast for that distance. I only finished 5 minutes behind Colin, which made me feel like a total Rock Star.

Here are our good friends the Hammonds. They were so stickin' awesome to take care of our dog, get us an awesome parking spot and cheer me on. We even got to go to lunch with them after we showered and got to spend a little quality time with them. We are so lucky to have such cool friends, we owe them big time.

We ate a delicious lunch and walked through the little town where the Hammonds live (so cute). We went to this cute fountain to take a group picture. Kim told me how here littlest girl fell into the fountain last year in the fall and it was a bit traumatic. Fastforward 5 minutes and we are all gathering around the fountain when BAM! Berkeley has pushed their youngest daughter into the fountain as she was in his "space." The poor thing was terrified, I felt so bad!! Notice the large puddle of water next to me, yep, that is where it all went down. Clearly Berkeley feels bad.
So here we are with Colin and Kate in Hartford.

Here are all three of the Hartford 1/2 Marathon finishers (the ones that drove in our car anyway).
We were all pretty sore and exhausted but loved the run. I would totally do this run again and recommend it for any first timers.

pool

"Look! I fit everything I wanted in my swimming pool. Get in and swim with me."

NINE

Nine years ago today I made the best decision of my life....and married this guy who was tall with curly hair, glasses and had a red back pack.

In nine we year we have:
traveled many miles
moved many times
made many friends
gained and lost many pounds
earned many degrees
ate lots of yummy food
had many laughs
bought many good toys (aka electronics)
visited many states, beaches, historical sites
enjoyed many seasons
learned many hard lessons
cried over many sorrows
worked many jobs
and
made many wonderful memories

Here is to MANY more unbelievable years of marriage!
I love you babe!

Western Mass or Bust, A Birthday Weekend Extravaganza

We took our second annual Fall trip to the Berkshires to spend time with Gloria and her family. Gloria's parents were gracious enough to invite us back again after a fun time last year; we just couldn't resist getting out of the city for the weekend.
We traveled down beautiful Route 2 where the leaves are just starting to change, for a 3 hour journey to North Adams, MA where we met Stef and Gloria at the Mass MoCA (Museum of Contemporary Art). Lucky for us it was Bank of America FREE Museum day!!! This may be one of the ONLY times I have been happy that I am banking with Bank of America.
Berkeley was a trooper during the drive up and was very excited to go to the museum. He thought he was going to the Museum of Science to see dinosaurs the whole time and lucky when we arrived at the MoCA he was just happy to be able to run around, so he forgot all about the dinosaurs.

The MoCA did not disappoint. It is such a large space that they can have really cool displays like the one we called "Cryptonite." Doesn't it remind you of Super Man?

We saw lots of cool art and even Berkeley liked these bright ones. He thought they were snakes and dinosaurs (I guess he did see those dinos after all). He also liked pointing out the shapes and colors he saw. Art is fun for ALL ages!

Saturday night Gloria and her mom made delicious lasagnas, meat, veggie and Gorgonzola (it was lasagna heaven!) Michele even surprised Christian with a homemade carrot cake for his birthday; the cake was out of this world amazing!

Sunday was Christian's 33rd Birthday! He spent a good chunk of the day in the beauty parlor playing fruit ninja with Stef.

Berke wanted in on some of the IPAD action no doubt! He loves his Auntie G and Aunt Stefy! He also fell in love with Gloria's dad, Bruce. The only way we could get him to eat any meals was to bribe him that if he ate his food he could play with Bruce after. Luckily Bruce was a good sport about the whole thing.

Later we went out to brunch at Brewhaha with the whole gang.

We headed back to Bruce and Michele's and played some of the left over Olympic Games from Stef and Gloria's wedding weekend. We had a blast laughing at all the silly things we were doing. Many of the games came from the show "A Minute to Win it."

This game we had to stick our nose in Vaseline and then pick up cotton balls with our nose, run across the room and drop the cotton ball in a bowel without using our hands. It was too funny!

Berke was happy to find this cool Hoola Hoop. He also found 2 barbies and a swimming pool that used to be Gloria's nieces; he loved playing with them so Michele let him take them home. He played with them the entire ride home and calls them "the girls." He even woke up the next morning asking to play with the girls. When I asked what their names were he said, "Alice." I thought that was pretty funny since we don't know ANYBODY named Alice. This kid is always cracking me up.

We twisted and shook our booties to get all of the ping pong balls out of the kleenex box.

We had such a wonderful time. We had originally planned to attend the Garlic Festival, but it rained all weekend and we decided not to go. It was still a lot of fun as you can see. It is always great to get out of the busy bustle of the city and just slow down a bit. I never realize how fast paced things are in the city until I leave for a moment.
We are so lucky to have such wonderful friends with great family!
Thanks for memorable weekend!

Happy Birthday to my sweet husband!