Friday the 13th - Catching Up

I have been absent - it's so tough for me to write anything with 4 kids who always NEED STUFF. I'd like to say I will get up in the morning and write before anyone wakes up, but who am I kidding? I can't even wake up to run lately. I get up when they make me get up - and let me tell you, it's been lovely sleeping in.

13. I have to say, the Foo Fighters were awesome. As in, best show evah!!! kind of awesome. Our seats were great, the show was great, and I enjoyed my first venture to Summerfest in Milwaukee. When they played this song, I totally thought of Chris. Is that weird? I love my bloggy friends. (not my video - my phone was dead by this point)

12. The following night, Jenna and I went to see the Chicago Sky (WNBA) play with some friends. It was so much fun to hang out with my oldest daughter, eat awesome Mexican food, and catch a game (where we randomly chose seats about 12 rows back). The moving seats (these were not our ticketed seats) made my anal personality scream internally. I spent the first half of it waiting to get kicked out. Do you ever move up? At 41 years old, that was the first time I'd ever done it.

11. Lots and lots of pool time is happening here. It's been so hot, that for a couple days last week, I wouldn't swim because it was akin to taking a bath. So gross. But the kids have been loving it.

10. I made me a facebook page. You can look on my sidebar and like me if you wanna :)

9. Last Saturday I got up at 3:45 to run 16 miles with Kim. It was rather epic. It was hot, but not uncomfortable to start. We did a running tour of some local towns, stopping for water lots along the way. I'd never run long through town before - I usually run the local trails for long runs - and I have to say, it was so much fun! And we were never far from a gas station or restaurant, so we had water and bathrooms whenever necessary. Plus, it was a blast running somewhere new, and it was great catching up with Kim - it'd been way too long. The last few miles were rough, and I've never sweated so much in my life (as in a half an hour later I was still dripping puddles in her kitchen. Eww.) but what a great long run!

8. I've been running with the running club lately, and it's been nice to meet new faces and catch up with old friends. I'd been a pretty slacky club runner until recently, and I'm remembering how nice company is in this heat.

7. We need rain desperately. It HURTS to walk across my lawn barefoot. All the landscaping we did this spring? Dead. Sad face.

6. I ran a local 10k race on the 4th of July with my friend Sarah, and I happened to run into Sara there! It was hot and slow (1:06 or something?) but it felt good to get out there anyhow and get it done for the day. And it was the 46th running of this race, so the community really knew how to take care of the runners - water and sprinklers and hoses were everywhere!

5. There are lots of times when I feel like James is just a normal kid, but there have been a couple of times lately when I am reminded that NO, he still has issues that are specific to him, and it's still hard to see him struggle. I took him to the movies for the first time, to see Brave. It was a half success. While he didn't want to, he stayed for the entire show. BUT. He spent the first two thirds curled up in my lap with his hands covering his ears and his eyes closed. By the end, he was peeking and asking me questions, and he says he wants to go again. We'll see. The fireworks were largely the same. Curled up on my lap, ears and eyes shut. Sigh.

4. That pretty picture of my new shoes down there? Yeah, they don't look like that anymore. Mostly because I've been wearing the hell out of them. They are dirty and dusty and I'm in LOVE with them. Couldn't be happier!

3. I recently won a Handful bra from Kimberly's blog. Best. Bra. Ever. Seriously, I love it. I chafed like a crazy person, both at Grandma's marathon and at the Maritime marathon (even though I used more Glide than humanly possible), to the point that I was bloody after Grandma's. I wore my Handful bra on the above mentioned sweatiest 16 miler ever, and NO CHAFING! It's cute and comfortable, it wicks sweat amazingly well, and it doesn't chafe. WIN!

2. This weekend, we are all (as in the whole family!) going to the Cubs game. There is potential that the kids may be able to run the bases! It should be a lot of fun.

1. This morning, I woke up and went running. When I weighed myself before getting into the shower, I weighed less than I've weighed since before getting married. While I feel really good about that, the other day I was planking in a scoop-necked top. I made the mistake of looking down my shirt towards my stomach. Have you ever looked at your stomach while planking? Especially those of you who (like me) have extra baby skin hanging out there? Take my advice - just DON'T. Not pretty.

Have a lucky Friday the 13th!