Catch Up and Upcoming Races

This time of year I always loose a little blogging mojo- just so busy. I thought I'd do a quick recap of what I've been up to and what I have on tap for races this summer. 

Last weekend my "little" brother graduated college so we were down in CT to celebrate and watch him get his diploma. It was a super rainy and cold day, so Caroline and I ended up ditching our dresses and wear Sacred Heart sweatshirts instead. At least we had school spirit? 

This weekend we went to the Cape to celebrate the unofficial beginning of summer with… drumroll, more rain. It was okay though, we managed to get two delicious dinners in, one with a gorgeous view. This restaurant is the spot Eric and I had our rehearsal dinner almost 3 years ago (what?!). The food is as amazing as the view. 

We also headed over to Mashpee Commons to enjoy some lunch and shopping. It was crowded because of the blah weather, but we still managed to have fun. 

Today we were back at home being productive. I went to yoga, Caroline and I went for a bike ride, and Eric and I planted more vegetables in our garden. Now we have zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, butternut squash, jalapeños and red pepper! Go big or go home. 

I've been meaning to do a post on some of the races I have my eye on for this summer. I did my first triathlon of the new season in early May. It went well, so I'm pumped for another season of training and racing.

Hyannis Sprint Triathlon- 1/4 mile swim, 10 mile bike, 3.5 mile run

Against the Tide Swim & Run- 1 mile swim, 5K

Cranberry Trifest Sprint Triathlon- 1/2 mile swim, 14.2 mile bike, 3.1 mile run

Title 9 Women's Triathlon- 1/4 mile swim, 10 mile bike, 3.1 mile run 

I'm hoping to balance all 3 sports with some yoga this summer and be ready for all of these races. If I could just get the whole work thing out of the way I would so much more time to train :) 

Fill me in on what is going on with you and what races you are hoping to do this summer, if any :) 

 

 

 

 

What My Mommy Friends Have Taught Me

In the last year, a lot of my wonderful lifelong friends have become moms. I've discussed what happens when your friends have babies more than once.  I've also discussed all of my own fears about having kids of my own. Spoiler alert, I'm still deathly afraid of having my own kids. My darling class of children this year has done nothing to help that. I know I said I would have kids now if I could skip the pregnancy part and just pop out a five year old, but I lied. Five year olds can really be the worst, ha ha. 

Here is what my many mommy friends have taught me: 

1. Babies are cute. Yup, I said it. I'm still not a baby person, but I may like when a baby gives me a cute smile/laugh combination close to as much as I love absurd five year old comments and the click moment when they are learning to read. Close. 

Plus, imagine how cute these kiddos will be when they can talk? I'm sure hilarious things will be said. 

2. Moms can still work full time, and the world will not come crashing down. Clearly I knew this, in theory, but I previously had only one example of a working mom among my friends up until the last year. Every single one of my friends has gone back to work full time, and guess what? Their babies are okay, they are okay, and everyone is happy and healthy. It's sort of a theme throughout these lessons that my friends have just taught me there are so many different ways to do this mother thing and none of them are wrong :) (well- there are wrong things, but my friends aren't' doing those things!)

3. Moms can still make time for their top priorities. Babies need a lot. They take up a lot of time, energy and of course sleep. This has me fearing that my life will become one mess of taking care of babies and work kids and that is all. My mom friends have shown me that I probably will have to cut down on some of the lower priorities in my life, but that if i really want to do something, I can still do it.  

4. Babies don't need a ton of stuff. Well, they do need a ton of stuff if you want to just go out for the afternoon, but everyone who knows me knows this won't really be an issue for me since I am already the most over prepared, giant bag carrier ever. Much lower on my list of fears, but still there nonetheless is the insane amount of STUFF that kids have. I sit at baby showers thinking…. oh my god, I do not ever want that much crap in my house! What my friends have taught me is that baby stuff is very similar to wedding stuff. Many parents want a lot of stuff, just like many brides register for things I couldn't even name. I think that is wonderful for them, because that is what they want. However, I have a couple of friends with babies and kids, who have showed me that babies will still be happy even if we don't buy or register for every possible item. Let the Babies R Us boycott continue. 

5. Moms don't have to be perfect. For every style/debate/decision of parenting, it seems there are people who want to argue. This is better, that is better. It's all very overwhelming. It's obvious to me that there is a lot of pressure on moms to do things a certain way. But the great news is, no one knows what the best way really is. Which leaves it up to my smart and wonderful mommy friends to make decisions that work the best for them. I love this. My mom friends have taken so many different approaches to feeding their baby, putting their baby to sleep, and many more decisions and all the babies are happy, smiling and for the most part, sleeping. It's so comforting to know that there are many right ways. 

Happy Mother's Day to all my wonderful mom friends- and most importantly to my own mom, who set my expectations for a mom so high that I fear I will never meet them :) and of course to Eric's mom, who is the dream Mother in law to have, and I am very, very lucky. 

By next Mother's Day, I will find a photo with my mom that actually includes my brother :) I swear he exists. 

 

April= Complete.

It seems nearly impossible to sum up the month of April in a blog post. There were many highs. Eric and I took a fun and relaxing trip to Washington DC. I did my most major spring cleaning ever, including cleaning every single closet in the house and tidying up and organizing some other areas. I got rid of a LOT, including throwing away, recycling, donating and even selling some clothes. There is nothing in my house right now that I really feel like needs cleaning or organizing, except my car- does that count as in my house? I read 5 new books. 

Unfortunately, there were also some lows this month. The most obvious was when two crazy terrorists decided to kill and injure many people at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, and then, the whole city of Boston and many surrounding towns were placed on lock down, while the second terrorist was found… in a boat, about five minutes from where I teach. Sigh. But, there was a silver lining to what can only be described as a completely terrible and terrifying week, the opportunity to be incredibly proud of Boston and of the many people both here and around the country and world who supported us. This article about the resilience of the human spirit sums up what made me so happy to live in (well, near) this beautiful city. I also acknowledge how incredibly lucky I am to have my friends, family and students all safe. 

This was also not a wonderful month for me on the health front. After having an incredibly healthy winter (perhaps too healthy?) I made up for it this month with a stomach flu and then some other kind of sickness (cold with a fever?) that knocked me down for multiple days. In the grand scheme of things, minor problems but definitely cut into my enjoyment and productivity this month. 

I did well with my April goals actually. I decluttered a LOT. I ate my food before I bought anything new. I reorganized my blog reading and then kept up better than I had been. I did okay on not overcommitting, I still felt like I had too much to do but I think the previously mentioned sickness meant I needed more rest time than usual. 

Here is what is on tap for May. 

1. Focus on health. I refuse to spend even a day of May sick, so I will focus on health this month. Specifically, I will: Floss every single night no matter how tired I am or how much I slacked on getting to bed early enough. I will make an effort to prioritize rest, not just sleep but also having some time to relax. I will cut down on the amount of sugar I eat. I will go to yoga at least 3 times. 

2. Continue the 10 minute clean up. This got pushed to the side a bit this month as I was doing some MAJOR cleaning projects that took much longer than 10 minutes. Now that I have all of that under control, I'd like to get back to the 10 minute clean ups. 

3. I will read 4 books. 

Keeping it simple this month :) What are you looking forward to in May? I am looking forward to going back to the Cape, doing a triathlon and my brother graduating college!