care-taker

My sweet husband is off on his first cross-country business trip today. He'll be spending the week in Washington DC, manning the company booth at a 100,000-attendee trade show.
(#proudwife right here)

Knowing that I generally get pretty scatter-brained when he leaves (see here and here for proof), he went shopping this weekend without me knowing and picked up enough food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for every day that he will be gone.

Sweetest part? He planned every meal, and each one included either fruit snacks or ice cream.
Boy knows the way to my heart.

motivate me, please

I feel like everyone I know is getting into shape or training for some running something-or-other. But here's the deal: I don't run. At all. None of my family does. And for good reason!

We're like, pretty dang nordic. There's some Armenian thrown in there, but on the whole, we're like this:

source

Except maybe not as attractive.

My brother said it best: "Our people were not made to run. We were made to swing hammers and conquer continents and stuff. Running was for the people we were attacking." Silly, but true.

Brother was called "Nordic Viking" in High School. I could max out the leg-press machine at the gym with one leg. It's just in our genes. We've always been strong.

But running? Yeah, not so much.

When Tim signed up and started training for a half-marathon, I just didn't have the same drive as he did (or the capability, to be honest. It would take me a LONG time before I can run thirteen-plus miles again.). I didn't have the motivation of losing weight, and even though I knew that I had to get my cardio up, it's hard to be motivated to start doing something like that if you're skinny. And what's the point if you're just running to reach a finish line?

BOooooring!

BUT I know that I need to work on increasing my activity. I used to be able to run a lot more than I can now; now, my heart and lungs start to really suffer if I do a moderate hike in altitude.

So. I'm biting the bullet.
I've registered for a 5k. (paltry distance compared to hubby's half marathon, but that's not the point. It's more than 0, my current ability).
But there's more. It's a MUD RUN. With obstacles and stuff. (they don't do color runs in December, which would have been my first choice).
This is to make the no-point-to-running-for-a-finish-line person in me happy, because racing in and of itself wasn't going to cut it for me for my first "competitive run" ever.
I'll be following the Couch to 5k running plan, so we'll see how it goes!

overwhelmed.

It's so easy to become overwhelmed in today's society. SO many things that keep us "busy" and occupy our time from when we wake to when we sleep. So many things that keep us from sleeping. Trying to balance work and family and life and friends and everything else we take on, it's downright exhausting!

But there is so much wonderful in the world, too, you guys! SO much beauty, so much kindness, so much love. The best kind of overwhelming.
I'm overwhelmed when I consider:

:: the beauty of the city in which I live,
:: the kindness and generosity of my students,
:: how good we really do have it here.
:: all the details that fit together perfectly in the plan of God,
:: the support poured out by our community when one of us is hurting or sick,
:: the joy of a good day's work.,
:: the love (and patience!!!!!) of my husband,

my heart is full.
Let's be overwhelmed by wonderful things, shall we?
What overwhelms you?

This weekend

date night with my wonderful hubby, who's not all that thrilled I'm on my phone // hot sauce collection

Nail art // Weekend projects: Painting the dining room!

One last one, my sweet little sleepy bird keeping us company while we painted.

Project#2, revamping a Habitat ReStore brass Chandelier. We're so excited!

Sunday Brunch with Tim at the beach // The beer was from a different time. But it was still good.

We stopped by the Avocado Festival in Carpinteria the other day, it was so fun! Weird, but fun. 

Avocado Honey beer and Avocado ice cream? One was good, the other not so much. Guess which one?

It was a great weekend. And I have today off. So it's still technically my weekend.

Excuse me, I've got a date with a bubble bath.

Carry on.

Friday Favorites

 Happy Friday, friends! Long time no talk. It's been quite the week (the physically and emotionally exhausting kind). But to help me forget about all that, I'm going to focus on some of my favorite things this week!









Favorite purchase: My shiny new iphone case, courtesy of Amazon. Best dollar I ever spent. (Seriously, a dollar {okay, a dollar and seven cents. Still}). May have taken three weeks to get here, but it's sparkly and will hopefully keep this iphone from shattering. I'm not normally a case girl, but I couldn't say no to a buck. And it's sparkly.

Favorite Fall Flavor:  I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in feeling this, but Pumpkin Spice is one of the best parts of the Fall season. We don't really get much of a Fall here on the Central Coast of California, so it's kind of the closest "marker" we get. Starbucks drives the seasons here: pumpkin spice latte season, red cup season. (You know it's true, SoCal-ers)
I can't wait to start baking a bunch of pumpkin-inspired concoctions; missed out on that one last year. I'll also be trying out a pumpkin spice creamer recipe; can't wait to share that one :)

Favorite weekend plans: Sticking to the pumpkin theme here, we're headed up to Avila Valley Barn this weekend! It's a yearly tradition and is just plain fun, which is definitely something we'll be needing after the completely awful weeks and weekends we've been having lately. We'll do a hayride, pick out a pumpkin or two, have a glass of cider, maybe visit the haymaze if we're feeling particularly adventurous {did it last year, still sort of get nightmares about it}.




What are your favorite things this week? link up with Lindsey!