3 Reasons You Should Never Wait to Work Out

I cannot tell you how many times this weekend I cornered off a part of my day to work out only to be completely derailed.

My weekend was madness.

However, it was not without its learning experiences, especially about getting off my arse early and getting out the door when there's an opportunity because that opportunity just might not come again for a long while. You really just never know what the future will hold for you.

So if you're waffling on your workout right now, as we speak, read this AND THEN GO. Mkay?

TOP THREE REASONS YOU SHOULD NOT WAIT TO MOVE YOUR BUTT OUT THE DOOR

1. You spend the morning cleaning because there are people coming over and you think it's so much better to get all the cleaning done first before you go to the gym so that you won't have to worry about cleaning right up until the time that your guests get there. In theory, this sounds fabulous! But just go to the gym first mkay? Because otherwise, you will have cleaned the whole house, gone to the gym, put your swim cap on, zeroed out your watch and just as soon as you're about to take your first lap, the phone rings and you have a bloodied three-year-old who smashed his face on the coffee table who has to go to urgent care.

2. You call that workout a wash because you go to urgent care (he's ok, we have to see a dentist because he ripped his gums all up) and your friend's coming over to go out. You have a big workout in the morning so losing the swim is ok. You can just do the big workout tomorrow. However, you go to bed at 3:30 a.m. and you fail to wake up in time for said workout. And then, ahem, you don't really feel up for working out at this point. You haven't had sleep and your head hurts (from all the loud music of course), so Monday it is!

3. You spend Sunday securing your workout partners for the long workout you intended to do on Sunday and you're all set for Monday! Hurrah! At this point, all you'll have missed is a swim. NO BIGGIE! You get all your gear together, your workout clothes are all ready, all you have to do is throw your bike in the car at 6 a.m. and go. However. At 3:30 a.m. you wake up in a shot. Things are not good. And you remember the stomach virus that hath overtaken your son last Thursday. You thought you were out of the woods until.....you leave a message for your workout partners saying that you won't make it this time around. And you go on to lose three pounds that day. (I guess that's the bonus of a stomach virus, right?)

In sum, it all started out with the missed swim. You think it's just going to be one workout, but then it turns to two and then possibly three. Do you see how fast it all falls apart? And only one of those things was my fault! Everything else was just life! Learn from me! Do not wait! Waiting leads to more waiting which leads to more waiting and then before you know it, you're screwed!

So, take it from me. If you're doing the wiggly waffle this morning, get a hold of yourself! Figure out your priorities and make sure that everything you do lines up with those. And then do it!

Don't wait.

Cause tomorrow you could be in urgent care or hugging the bowl (or both).

Trust me.

Hope you all had a Happy 4th of July!

Ps. COME TO MY TWITTER PARTY TOMORROW!!

8 P.M. ET, PRIZES SPONSORED BY GIRLZ N GEAR!!! Leave your twitter handle below if you plan on coming! SEE YOU THERE!

Lessons Learned Through Graham Crackers

Today I managed to turn a graham cracker into a lesson on how to not be selfish and how to accept people and things with disabilities.

I know. It's a stretch. I was trying to get myself out of trouble.

On days like these I'm proud of myself but then again one day they'll catch on and think mommy's a big giant buzzkill for turning graham crackers into life lessons. They'll also catch on to things like the fact that I was so busy this morning I dressed them up in their bathing suits and completely forgot to pack dry clothes and made them drove home wrapped up in towels.

Bad mommy.

Nevermind with that.

Anyway.

Today I was rifling in my bag while driving home from the spray park for the graham crackers everyone was whining about and when I pulled the first two out, they broke in half.

*shudder*

I knew this was going to be a problem so I gave two halves to each kid, completely prepared for the wrath about to ensue for my failure to deliver one big whole graham cracker to each of them and instead a "broken" one. Kid #1 happily chomped away. (Surprise!) Kid #2 started crying. (No surprise).

Mommy it's broken! I don't want a broken one! I want a nother big cacker!

Too bad.

Er.

What I mean is: (calmly) "We can eat what we've been given or we can have no graham crackers."

I know. I'm mean. But for some reason in this case, I felt the need to stand my ground on this one. The "be thankful" lesson. The "no whining until you get something" lesson. Some other lesson I can't think of right now.

Then I don't want ANY CACKERS!

"OK then, hand them to me. If you want a graham cracker next time, you can ask me nicely and apologize for not being thankful the first time."

Oh boy. I know. I'm getting carried away here.

Few minutes goes by.

Mommy?

Can I peese have a cacker?

Sowwy.

Hallelujah! Message receieved! Job done. (Surprised. Totally surprised. I'm awesome.)

A few miles down the road, kid #1 asked me for another graham cracker and as I was pulling out the graham cracker while driving, it brushed up against the plastic and shaved the corner off. Egad, what is wrong with me?!

It was a big huge cracker, but the corner shaved off. I handed it to him anyway secretly flinching.

Maybe he won't notice.

Yeah right.

My cracker's broken!

Doh!

Um. Think. Think. Think!

Yes, but it's still a cracker, right? I mean, if you see a person missing a foot, he's not less of a person right? He's still a person, right? So a cracker missing a corner is still a cracker right?

Silence.
"Right," he says. (chomp.) Smile.

Ohmigod I'm a genius.

He even looked SATISFIED AND HAPPY AS A HUMAN BEING!

OK so yes, really, it started out as me trying to get myself out of trouble, (why can't I deliver the big cracker properly!?) but I think we all learned a valuable lesson from the graham cracker today, what do you think?

Kid # 1: a graham cracker (person) is still a graham cracker (person), even if it's broken a little.

Kid #2: be thankful for whatcha got...two halves equal a whole, or look! You have two crackers instead of one!

And me: figure out how to freakin open a box of graham crackers. And if you can't, make some stuff up that sounds really good and happens to simultaneously teach a life lesson. (When do they figure out us moms are sometimes full of crap? I hope never.)

The end.

FRESH: The Cereal Bar (AKA Happy Hour for Kids.)

This is how you get 23 preschoolers to sit still in a restaurant. (Feel free to click on the picture to get a better look.)

Yes.

It is a wall of cereal.

And up top, there are cartoons.

You must be thinking, "How do I get me to one of these?"

It is that cool.

I want to briefly explain that in this rare instance of sugarycerealoverflow, for a brief two hours of time on this day, I removed my normal "mom" "health" "cautious" consciousness from my body and allowed my inner 5 year old to occupy this space. Because I can only imagine what 5 year old "me" would have thought when I walked into a place with a giant wall of cereal and cartoons playing on a giant television or two. I allowed myself to feel that for this day.

We went to the Glazer Children's Museum but this was the real star of the show: a restaurant called, "Fresh," in downtown Tampa.

Don't get me wrong, the children's museum was awesome and fun, but this place had a soda fountain with cream soda and black cherry soda!

I don't even remember the last time I had cream soda! Much less from a fountain!

Walking into this place was like walking into some magical cereal wonderland. The look on the children's faces when they saw the cereal wall was a look of absolute incomprehension. You could almost see the wheels turning.

Oh, a restaurant. (Looks at shoes.)

Wait. What? (Looks of wonderment.)

What is that up there? (Looks of disbelief)

Is that Fruit Loops? Is that Cocoa Puffs? Is this every type of cereal my parents won't let me have, all in one place on one wall? (Looks of astonishment)

(Am I allowed to have it?) (Looks of helpless plea-ing)

Then, the turn to mom for confirmation.

And then the mom, nodding yes.

(Looks of absolute joy and glee and overwhelming unmatched happiness!!!)

Every kind of cereal you could think of going across the wall along with two huge tvs up on top of that lovely wall that the lovely folks at Fresh turned to the Cartoon Network.

Being a class of 20-something preschool and kindergarten kids between ages 4-6 in a restaurant got us some looks from the business crowd, and yes, there was a large business crowd (the mayor of Tampa was even in there) but, I couldn't help but wonder, there is a CEREAL BAR here, how is it that WE are the weird ones?!

To Fresh's credit, the restaurant is actually a magical wonderland of paninis and salads too, I mean, every sort of pressed panini you can think of.  I had some delicious fresh mozzerella, tomato, pressed grilled melty fabulousness but I had a hard time deciding between the lovely sandwiches and the ginormous salads of love.

However, I was also really blown away by the fact that I could actually order without madness ensuing. My 5 year old was happily chomping away at his vat of cereal in a box while I had time to order, get my cream soda, actually finish my sandwich AND have an actual conversation with another parent and go get some more cream soda to go.

Now I tried to keep my mouth shut on the fact that I caught them filling up the Fruit Loops with fakey fruit rings and to be perfectly honest the fruit rings don't bother me, I just don't want to KNOW that they're fruit rings, so if they could just fill it up in the back and leave my ignorance to its bliss so as to leave the magic enchanted cereal forest unfettered and untainted, I'd sure appreciate that. Now if they could just send the mind eraser over...

Anyways, I know that this may not be the first time you've ever heard of a place like this, but it is for me!

And it was nothing short of kid/parent heaven.

(Yes, I know, I know, cereal for lunch, sugar, la la la la la not healthy, what.ever.)

This was CEREAL ON A WALL, PEOPLE!

You gotta live sometime!

And to my 5 year old whose choices are usually Cheerios, Rice Krispies or Oatmeal, that was just about the coolest thing ever.

Go to there if you get a chance.

It is way cheaper than Disney World and it yields the exact same effect.

BODIES.

Oh these bodies of ours. They can throw us for a loop so much can't they?

I'm sitting here with my giant jug of water that makes me look like a hamster when I drink it.

Hydrating because tomorrow is a really big race. St. Anthony's Olympic distance triathlon. One of my two really big races of the year (the other is the Augusta 1/2 Ironman in September.)

Right now it's 9 o'clock in the morning and we're supposed to be walking in the March of Dimes' March for Babies. I raised just over $700, just under my goal but still, our team as a whole raised about $6,000. (Thanks to all of you who donated directly and through Bondies for Babies! I love you!)

I wish I could see if our team won the family teams award like last year. My wagon is sitting in the front room all decorated because our theme was "NICU SURVIVOR." My son and I were going to wear camo.

It is the first time since my son was born that we didn't walk in this walk.

It feels weird and makes me want to cry.

My little one was up last night with a terrible fever and throwing up. I could have gone on the walk this morning with my older one, but I needed to take over the "next" shift after my husband pulled the all-nighter. Well I didn't need to, he could've handled it, but you know how it is. I got up and saw my husband sleeping on the floor in my little one's room and knew. I needed to be here.

My son got sick last night and I missed the walk today, but he slept in, we got up, I saw him eat again, I cleaned him up, sanitized his room, got everyone else fed and let my husband relax a little, instead of leaving at 6 a.m. to cram the 3 mile walk pulling a wagon into the day and worrying the whole way how he's doing and not enjoying that moment.

It's hard to let go of some of the things that are so important to me, like this walk.

But I'm trying a new approach to things and it's called (brilliantly), "letting go."

It's also called "cutting my losses," "living in the moment" or "come what may." But any way you put it, I'm trying to be at peace and guilt and sadness free with what happens and being one with my decisions.

It's not so easy though.

And it takes practice. I'm still practicing.

Now we're in sickness roulette, one of us may get it or NONE of us will get it! Who knows!? It's a wonderful game, isn't it!

And who knows, we might not race at all tomorrow.

But either way I'm ready for it.

And I'm hydrating with my giant water bottle.

Come what may, right? It's moment by moment up in here. I'm not anticipating anything and at the same time I'm anticipating everything.

So.

If no one is sick by 2 o'clock, I am picking up my race packet. If no one is sick by 8 o'clock tonight, I'm going to bed.

If no one is sick by 3 a.m., I'm waking up.

And if no one is sick by 7:30 a.m., I'M HEADED OFF INTO THE WATER in my orange swim cap. (ORANGE?! I WANTED PINK! But orange is my son's favorite color. That has always cracked me up and will definitely carry me through the swim. Even if I do look like fruit.)

Of course, I get almost everything that comes into this house so there is a good chance I may not be racing at all! However, the last time one of my sons pulled an all-nighter, no one else miraculously got it, so I'm clinging on to that. Strike that. Actually I'm just going to be one with whatever happens. Mkay? Now I'm just incessantly talking for the sake of hearing myself type.

For now, I hydrate.

If I go to bed tonight without any illness, I will post my traditional "Night before St. Anthony's" poem around bedtime and you'll know that I'm racing.

And tomorrow I will mobile post a picture from transition and you'll know I made it. (Of course I'll be tweeting from @christieo the whole time so you might know what's happening before then.)

But if it's Sunday and you're reading this, definitely one of us is hovered over the bowl, ok? So throw some "hope it passes quickly!" thoughts our way.

This is what happiness looks like...

When a green blanket makes it home.




(Thank you, lady at the Courtyard Marriot in Lake Buena Vista. Thank you.)

The Plight of Green Blanket

When we go away, I usually let the kids bring one blankie and one "friend" to keep them company. If we bring more than that, they're expendables (sorry, toys!) and if they get lost in the shuffle, well it's not that big of a deal.

(Amazing how watching Toy Stories 1,2, & 3 millions of times just made me feel guilty typing that.)

Anyway, almost every parent I know can sympathize with the plight of a lost blanket, too, in one form or another.

As soon as you say the words, "We lost the blankie," the words are met with a drastic gasp, followed by, "Nooooooooooooooooo!!!"

I'll never forget my lost blanket. When I was a little girl, I had a ratty old white blanket. We lived out in the sticks of upstate New York and every restaurant was a kajillion miles away.

Of course, that's where I left my blanket. At a restaurant a kajillion miles away. I think it was Easter. I remember my dad ordering the lamb.

I remember my beloved blanket's holes and its dirty offwhiteness that made it the perfect blanket. It was torn and ratty but it was thin and fit nicely in my hand when I sucked my pointer finger. I know, pointer finger? Oddly enough, my husband sucked his pointer finger too. (Match made in heaven!)

My daddy of course turned back to get it. I don't remember, but I was probably a wreck. I must have blocked it out.

Eventually, my mom empowered me subconsciously to eventually give up the blanket, and one day I just walked over to the trash, said, "I'm a big girl!" and tossed it in.

In hindsight, whaaaaa??? Why would I ever do that!? Poor blankie.

My son is not there yet. He's 5 now and he's had "Green Blanket" since he was a baby.

It's sort of brown-green now. We should really wash it more.

When we went to Disney last week, we left the hotel, enjoyed a whole day at Hollywood Studios, and right at that time where the kids are really spent and things are going downhill fast, we got to the car and made the discovery.

Green Blanket was gone.

It really could not have been worse timing.

My husband had already gone home because we drove separately and I was on my own with two tiny hot messes at dinner time (with no dinner in the near future) with the face paint half-smeared off by the mix of sweat and tiredness. Getting to the car without any crying or yelling had been a feat in and of itself.

There was a point earlier on where I knew we should have left (ya know, when everyone was still happy...) but I pushed it.

We overstayed.

So when we realized the blanket was missing there were tears. Even the little one was crying over his brother's blanket. His heart was broken too.

Then there was screaming.

And flailing.

The missing green blanket had indeed shoved him right over the edge that we were so delicately teetering on when we left the park.

I turned around on the highway before we got too far, called the hotel, no one was left in housekeeping; they were gone for the day and were sure to be listening to the madness in the background on their voicemail when they got back and got my message.

I felt for him too. I remember buying it, wondering if that would turn out to  be his "beloved" and lo and behold! It has!

When we got home and he longingly described his blankie, he even knew where the softer patches were and the rougher patches were. It was surprisingly detailed for a five year old.

Luckily, long ago, my mom bought the same blanket and we kept the spare at her house. It was a much cleaner, less worn version of it. I explained to him that we would get that and would that be ok? I knew just "switching it out" would not have worked.

He was sad but he said yes, that would be ok. (He's a trooper. Or any old blanket in the storm I guess?)

So.

He's been loving on that blanket for more than a week now, full well knowing and telling everyone that's not his "real" green blanket, that the "real" one is at the hotel. (I really was proud of myself for getting everything together and everyone out of the hotel in a timely manner, too! How could I have left one of the most important things!)

The "lesser" green blankie. I love how he rubs it on his cheek like that though. Sooo cute.

However.

On Thursday I got a call on my voicemail. It was a really excited head of housekeeping (who I thought said also had a 5 year old but it turns out she said, she also once had a LOST BLANKET, how I mixed that up I don't know) but either way, she was happy to report that the laundry service that does their sheets found the blanket all tied up in the sheets! And a tee-shirt too! (I still have no idea which tee-shirt.) But HELLO!

GREEN BLANKET WAS FOUND!!! I'm seriously thinking about sending a thank you card!

We had all resigned in our heads to the fact that it was gone forever, but it has miraculously turned up!!!!!! And it is in the mix of the U.S. Postal Service as we speak. We are just waiting, it could be any day now, it could even be today! It is just making a short trek from Orlando!

OOh I can't wait to see his face! Hooray!

So do you have any blankie, stuffed friend tragic losses and/or miraculous reunion stories? How heartbreaking ARE they?! This was quite an ordeal!!

Mantra Monday: (Insert Motivating Word Here)

Well it's time for a Mantra Monday and time to bring on the week ahead.

Only I'm feeling less, "Bring it on!" than "Eh, ok, let's bring it on... shall we?" in more of a "let's get this thing over with" sorta way.

Not very aggressive.

It seems like I have several great weeks in a row and then I have a frustrating one. But that's normal right?

I guess I'm just disappointed.

I thought I was going really fast in the race, I thought I was kicking some butt, and then when I crossed the finish line and got my time, turns out I didn't. Um, not at all in fact.

Wah wahhhh (that's my Debbie Downer sound.)

Yeah, I'm whining a little bit about it. Because I thought I came so far! I thought I was swimming like a shark!

Sigh.

So this is the week where I regroup.

Maybe that's the word I need this week: "regroup."

Ya know how you do a lot of stuff and you're doing really well and making breakthroughs and then all of a sudden you go through a test and you find out you're not as awesome as you think you are and then you feel frustrated and instead of working on the stuff you know you need to work on you feel like giving up and saying, "Well then what the heck am I doing this for anyway?"

?

Yeah, it's taking me all I have to not do that.

Because I want to.

I feel like I face this feeling every other month.

I mean, why is this so important anyway?

I was talking to a friend yesterday and we were talking about the things we see during training.

The beautiful sunrises, the dolphins in the water along the causeway, the feeling of the wind on your face and the water on your skin. The adrenaline, the endorphines, the feeling of life pumping through your veins.

It's really not about the race and the numbers in the end.

The reason I do it is because of the way it makes me feel when I'm doing it. What I see when I'm doing it. The way it makes me feel like I'm living and not letting life just pass me by. The rush and the push and answer to my question, "Can I do this?"

I get caught up in "doing it well" as opposed to "doing it" and sometimes just "doing it" isn't enough, I want more. Like everyone, eventually "good" is not "good enough." But whose definition of "good enough" am I using? The numbers on the board when I check my times and compare myself to everyone else? Or my own definition?

Because I had victories in that race even though the numbers might not say so.

The numbers don't tell the story of the race like I felt it.

So now, simply, it's just time to regroup.

Then dig in and push a little more.

But most of all, remember when I'm doing it, why I'm doing.

Because it's simply not just about the numbers.
* * *
What's YOUR mantra this week?

Leave it in the comments or blog about it and link up here!

Ps. Have you seen my Sigg Water Bottle giveaway? Going on right now, go to there!

Sometimes

The guy in the garden center at Lowe's helped me load up my new red mulch and my beautiful new doomed flowers and ridiculously overpriced handpainted flower pot that I just HAD to have and he asked me, "Do you believe you have a calling?"
It was a pretty deep question from a guy in the Lowe's garden department.

I told him, "Yes, I believe that." Even though I am still trying to figure mine out but I didn't say that.

He had a very heavy spanish accent so it was hard for me to understand every word but I was listening intently to try and get all the words because he was talking really fast. He eventually went off to talk about how he thinks he was born to be a fighter in MMA and someone out of the blue told him he should be an MMA fighter and he thought it was a sign.

I wasn't sure where it was going from there but it seemed really important for him to tell me this and so I listened as we loaded up the huge bags of mulch together because I was stubborn and wouldn't let him do all the work.

The conversation went quickly, only the time it took to load up two carts of full of flowers, mulch and a toilet seat (can you tell me the difference between a $10 toilet seat and a $30 toilet seat? Is there really that much difference? All I care about is that it is hard plastic, which most of them are. Beyond that, what are the perks? Different post for a different day I suppose.)

So we were finishing and I said, "Thanks so much for helping me!" and he said, "Thank you! I really believe God sends angels to give us messages don't you?"

And I said, "Yes. I do."

OK so this sounds pretty crazy but for some reason that last comment impacted me.

It actually made me cry when I got in the car. I know. Really random, from the guy at Lowes talking about being a MMA fighter.

But still.

It was a big question and it was a question that was on my heart last night when I got an email back from my son's teacher at his school.

Do I believe that God sends me messages?

I do.

With my whole heart.

Sometimes I get a nagging feeling about something, a gut feeling, where I am compelled to do something I would never even imagine doing, and even in a desperate sort of way because it is something that I CAN'T NOT do. I don't believe this is my mind talking.

Sometimes my fingers fly across the keyboard without so much as an actual thought in my head and I wonder where the words came from.

Or there is something that is a total shot in the dark, it makes no sense whatsoever, there is no way in the world it will work out, but it does. It works out. And I've learned not to ask why because I will always figure that part out later.

There is always a because. A reason that something has happened.

Sometimes I find myself at a crossroads and I cry, I mull over the possibilities, the choices, I agonize and I pray for an answer or a direction.

I get one. Maybe not on my time. But I get one.

When I get over "myself" and look outward, toward the bigger picture, I close my eyes and listen, and in days, sometimes weeks, the answer just comes. Whatever has happened to me that makes me question or agonize or worry, the answer is almost never about me.

The picture is always bigger than the one I have in my head. The answer sometimes simpler, sometimes not even one of the options.

So this past week, I discovered Socks for Japan.

I've been in agony over how to help besides donating to the Red Cross and Socks for Japan spoke to me and I kept going back to it in my mind and I couldn't stop thinking about it. I wanted to do this with my kids but will my tiny contribution with just me and the boys be enough to make any impact whatsoever? And I think, "No. It has to be bigger than that. But how?"

So I open up an email and start typing away to my sons' teachers about Socks for Japan to see if they will get the class involved in this project and I do it without thinking and I think my fingers aren't my own, they are typing for someone else, and a couple hours later she has emailed my email to everyone and now I am spearheading a Socks for Japan project at their school.

I still don't know where it's going or if it will be successful, but it doesn't matter. It's like my mom says, you send out little seeds into the world and you find out which ones stick into the ground and grow and which ones don't and they aren't always the ones you thought would sprout.

That nagging feeling? That voice in your head? The person sent to you as if out of nowhere to talk some sense into you, support you, identify with you?

I don't know if it's angels. I don't know if it's the man Himself doing all that, but I do believe that if you listen, you will hear a voice in your heart, your head, your gut or where ever it lives and who ever is saying it will tell you "why" and "what." It is more than a conscience and I believe that.

It won't always be what you want to hear or the answer to the "why" that you asked. And it won't tell you everything, but it will tell you something.

You just have to listen. Like I'm listening now. 

The Ultimate Blog Party at 5 Minutes for Mom!!! (A Giveaway Post)

Woohoo!! Time to party!!

I love this time of year!

Time to meet new bloggers and new friends in a giant online soiree! (Pronouncing it in my best fake deep British voice, Welcome to the SWA-RAYYYY, dahhling!)

We're blog-hopping with 5 Minutes for Mom this week in their annual Ultimate Blog Party and if you're not involved in the party yet go git your partywear on and put up a post and go visit people, it's FUUUUUN!! There are prizes and everything!

(There are prizes here too!)

But first, if you're new here, I'll introduce myself and give you the short story and the low-down.

HI!

I'm Christie O!

In my former life (before kids) I worked in tv news as a producer and a writer. I decided to stay home after my first son was born 6 weeks early.

4 lbs 6 oz.

He's turning 5 NEXT WEEK!

We're having a mad science party and it is going to be AWESOME.

It's amazing how time flies.

I had a difficult time dealing with his prematurity (even though he was just fine and spent very little time in the NICU) and found out I was pregnant again when he was 10 months old. (Surprise!)

I swear he had that goofball smile straight outta the womb.

That little boy is now 3 1/2.

He is his own man.

I have the best husband ever. He does a great American Idol dance but will deny it to the death. Right now I only know that it actually exists and no one believes me. It is like trying to explain I've seen the Lockness Monster. But one day I shall get it on video. One day.

And I gained oh, about 60 pounds (give or give some) during pregnancy and went on a mission after I regained consciousness from post-partum depression to lose it.

whoopsy. how'd that happen?

I started running (slowly).

I continued running (slowly.)

I was losing weight (finally!)

I got bored with running and tried triathlon (slowly.)

And loved that. So.MUCH.

Because I learned so much about myself. I learned how much I am capable of. How strong I am mentally. How to overcome fear like in open water swimming.

I am on a constant journey, through life, through motherhood, through wifehood, through healthy living. I don't know where the journey's going, but I'm enjoying the ride!

What My Blog is About

I am in constant awe of moms. I rarely ever feel like I know what I'm doing.

It wasn't until after my sons were born and then they were getting older and I was having to make difficult decisions and I never seemed to know the right answer and my best friends and sister were becoming mothers and women that I understood just how hard it is to be a mom and I finally thanked my own mom.

We sometimes judge each other too quickly but the truth is, MOMS ROCK!

I believe moms should be celebrated for their uncanny ability to diffuse any situation or have any item available as needed in her giant purse in a moment's notice, for getting all done in a day, for everything they are to every ONE!

I believe that the average mom wears a cape. Not the SUPER mom that we all want to be, the average mom that is ALREADY SUPER! So every month I share an awesome mom or group of moms with everyone because we need to celebrate each other's awesomeness! (You can read about this month's mom right HERE! She's truly awesome, she's feeling her way through breastfeeding now and I remember that all too well, it did not go easy for me!)

I love sharing stories about the craziness that is family life, the bad mommy moments, good mommy moments, the hard stuff, the easy stuff, and the revolution that is going from a 40+ hour a week career girl to stay at home mom/room mom/soccer mom/minivan mom in 1.2 seconds. I blog about prematurity, health and fitness, motherhood, crafts, recipes, American Idol, and everything else in between!

I love being inspired by other writers, mothers, bloggers and friends so please introduce yourself and leave your link so I can follow! I can't wait to meet you!

WAIT -- did someone say DOOR PRIZES?!

This week, I'm giving away two prizes, and they are two of my favorite things in the world!

1. A Bondi Band!

These are really cool sweat-wicking headbands with cool sayings on them! I randomly draw winner from the comments and you pick your saying! You can click on the picture to make it larger to see all the sayings.

2. A necklace from my Etsy shop, Inspire Me Chic!

Same thing, I will randomly draw a winner from the comments, you pick your style! They are handmade leather necklaces with an inspirational circle charm on it. I wear "discipline" and "focus" depending on my mood and they work, truly they do!

The giveaway will close at the end of the day on the last day of the blog party and I'll announce the winners in the blog hop recap the next day!

Please introduce yourself and leave your blog link so I can come visit you!

Welcome!

Cocktail?

Don't go without the recipe for the best sangria ever!!!

Nice to meet you!!!

My Rules for Life: For the Time Capsule. If I had one.

I've become paranoid in my old age.

I'm almost 35, and well, now I have two children and I'm scared of everything.

I didn't used to be. I was the polar opposite of scared, in fact, and borderlining stupid, if we're being perfectly honest with ourselves which we are. It's a wonder I even survived my 20's with all of my stupidity but don't tell my parents that.

I used to work in news which probably made my paranoia fester just a bit (or maybe by one-billion percent) since I was always aware of the terrible things that went on in the world and even though those terrible things were often an anomaly, I knew that they did and do happen and the small statistics never helped me feel better about that (i.e. fear of sharks, lightning, etc).

But every so often something happens and it feels close to home, even if it isn't. Like hearing about a mother of two babies who was training for a 1/2 marathon who died after being hit by a car. Or hearing about the recent death of a former co-worker of mine. We were not close, but I did know of her, a beautiful, beautiful, sweet and kind person who left this world too soon.

I worry about my life sometimes when things like this remind me of how fragile and random life is but most of all I worry about my children. I thought about what I would tell them, what advice I would give them if for some terrible reason, I wouldn't be able to tell them in person. I figured I could have my little spot in this world frozen for them just in case so here it is.

I wanted my advice to be simple. But I wanted it to cover a lot of bases. All the basics, in fact. Life in general, getting along in society, and taking advantage of every wonderful moment you've been given. I hope that I will get to tell them this in person and happily pester them over and over again like the broken record moms tend to sound like, but sometimes life has other plans. So after thinking about it for a really long time, I think I've come up with it.

My Rules for Life

Rule #1:  Be nice.
I can't see how you can ever go wrong with being nice, taking the high road or doing the right thing. At the end of the day, you can be nasty, or you can suck it up and just be nice and it's your choice. Sometimes being nice is much, much harder than being nasty and sometimes it's not the popular thing to do. But in most cases (except in the case of standing up for yourself and what you believe in and even then you don't have to be nasty about it), being nice is the brave thing to do. And I don't mean the type of nice that is "saying mean things in a nice way" or being "nicely manipulative." I mean actual niceness from the depths of your being. Being nice also means doing nice things like being helpful and caring for other people if you are called on to do so and even (or especially) if you aren't. Be nice to girls. Be a gentleman. And try not to be judgemental because that's not nice. And if you were wondering, yes, there is such a thing as being too nice and there are people who might take advantage of that and for that, see rule #2 and rule #4.

Rule #2: Learn everything you can about everything.
This means yes, going to school and lots of it, as much of it as you can, really, but also being your own advocate and doing your own research. Traveling. Finding out about the world and seeing life from other perspectives and not being wrapped up in yourself. Learning everything about everything will allow you to be able to make informed, well thought out decisions (even if they are wrong, they will at the very least be informed and you will be even moreso informed by learning from your mistakes in decision making so even mistakes are a part of learning.) By learning, you will be able to sate that thirst for curiousness that you have right now. By being informed, you'll be able to read the fine print, help yourself and help other people better. You will possess knowledge and thus be able to get a job that pays well or at least pays for your basic necessities in life: food, clothing and shelter. And no one will be able to sell you a bridge. Because you will know better.

Rule #3: Try your very best to remain mugshot-free.
There are a lot of reasons for this one, but mainly I mean this for the big ones, the following: not stealing, hurting other people, drunk driving or any other illegal activities (and a lot of this can fall under rule #1 too). It also means not hanging out with anyone who does any of these things because that will get you thrown into jail too (see rule #4). There are secondary consequences of going to jail, too. It'll make life in general more difficult and you will pay for it in many, many other ways. You will have a hard time getting a job, going to the school you want and honestly, a lot of chicks don't like a guy who's been in jail anyway. It's expensive, it's not a great thing to have on a resume and let's not even discuss what goes on in there (I've heard that it's not just a bunch of dudes getting along swimmingly.) It just gets plain messy. So do try your very best not to have a mugshot. M'kay? Plus when you have a mugshot it ends up on the internet in some database and you really don't want that floating around either. These are usually pictures that are taken at your lowest point with your hair all mussed up and your eyes all baggy and scary-looking. And while we're at it, there are all those other weird technology ways to end up in jail through texting and the internet and whatnot and perhaps by the time you read this there will be special nodes for your head that you'll be able to think about something and make it happen, so if you do have those things, remain within the moral codes of all that too. M'kay? And ps. There are those few times where standing up for what you believe in or doing the right thing could land you in jail too so I guess this would be my only exception to rule #3 but still try your very best to avoid jail if at all possible.

NOTE: For a more broad approach to these simple life rules, there are 10 rules that are readily available via the Bible and as part of rule #2, the research and learning bit, you should read this in its entirety one day but for now we'll talk about the 10 Commandments at the level we are able to and I will discuss them with you while I am here and hope that you will carry those with you for as long as you both shall live.

There wasn't going to be a rule #4 but as I was writing this I realized this was equally important in living a full and happy life and so here it is.

Rule #4: Surround yourself with nice people. I hate to tell you this but sometimes there are mean or negative people out there and you can give them a chance and try to change them or their opinion (because you're trying to follow rule #1) but as much as you want to they likely won't change and you can spend your life trying. You can also spend your life trying to fit in with them, but true friends will accept you no matter what so you won't have to spend your life trying to fit in with true friends and you'll know who they are pretty quickly. It is ok to say goodbye to people who make life difficult for you, stress you out or make you unhappy and if you must be around them for whatever reason, it is ok for you to just take them in small doses. In the end, try to keep yourself surrounded by people who love you, who make you happy, and by people who got your back and will defend you and support you no matter what (and also by people who try to follow the aforementioned rules themselves by playing nice, being well-informed or at least logical, and by not going to jail.)

Well I believe that covers all the basics, the rules of living happily within society, being fed and clothed and just.

As I look at you running around in your underwear and diaper pretending that you're at the beach, I wish I could just tell you life would forever be like it is right now, happy and fun with the most devastating thing in your world being how fast (or slow) mom can get your snack for you.

But you'll grow up and things will get a little more complicated and it will all begin with your first pimple.

I truly believe that if you follow my 4 little principles, you'll be ok. No matter how tough it gets.

And if you don't, that's ok. I will love you anyway.

But I'm not bailing you out of jail.

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What are your rules and what do you want to pass down to your children? Have you ever considered writing a letter or a post or doing a video with it?