Pleasantville

It's here...........

Back in November I mentioned that I signed up for the Seaside Half Marathon(here). I had intended on blogging about my progress in training. I started out good but then I got sick in December and became concerned that I was hopeless. Don't ever do that.... that thing where you let your mind tell you things. We all have that internal dialogue with ourselves and in my case that voice has talked me out of many things. I am glad to say that after 35 years I am finally learning to listen to the voice that says "You can do anything!" I heard the other day that by age 35 we are pretty much set in who we are-yikes!!! I guess that means I have to work that much harder on the changes I want to make. You see this running thing turned into so much more than running or losing a few pounds. It became intensely personal to me . It has become my time for me. It's hard as a stay at home mom to make that time for yourself. BUT it's so important. I am so excited for tomorrow and nervous. For avid runners its probably not that big of a deal but for me , it's just validation of how amazing our mind and body are.  This is the first of many things that I'm starting to check off my list.(It's never too late!) I hope you are doing the same!!

One day while running I took this picture with my phone. This is my favorite part of my run. Whatever the weather is like it is always beautiful and peaceful.

 

Western Lake heading back into Watercolor and Seaside

This is the course

And this picture on the website frightened me a little

I hear that murals from Art Miles Mural Project will be on display tomorrow too. Looking forward to that!!

I won't be in church tomorrow morning but I'll be with God the whole way!!!!!

Laissez les bon temps rouler

Happy Fat Tuesday! It's been awhile since I've gotten into the carnival season. Mom lived in New Orleans and Slidell for 10 years and we spent alot of time there with her. Since she moved to Pensacola and Katrina we have only been 2-3 times. I took the boys last Friday to meet up with sister and her family and mom and Joe. We took in a parade in Slidell on Friday and 2 parades on St. Charles on Saturday. I am happy to report that New Orleans is alive and well. It's still not the same but Magazine Street was bustling with boutiques and eateries and we had no problems downtown. It was great to take in New Orleans and enjoy all that makes her special. The people in New Orleans are the nicest you'll meet. And the food.. don't get me started. I only was there for 1 day but enjoyed shrimp and crab stew and crawfish of course.

Hope mom or sister sends me some of the pictures they took because I forgot my camera. The boys LOVED the parades once they figured it all out!

Push play below for a taste of music!!

Childhood Nostalgia

I had this song in my head the other day and it would not go away(is this embarrassing to admit?)

We are so lucky to live in the age of technology we do because we can virtually look up anything and find it on the web. So I found what I was looking for and showed it to the boys. They were fascinated-it's not the typical cartoon they are accustomed to. Does anyone remember this from Pinwheel??

Those were the days.........

 

Is your closet ready for spring?

Things I'm loving this spring..........

All the above can be found at Nordstrom's.

You know I have to include some flats. These so have my name on them. From where else?

JCrew

These are also from Jcrew and I need these for working in my yard this spring. I get snakes(some of which are poisonous) coming out about the same time we start planting. These will protect my legs anyway! Do they make gloves that go up to your shoulders?

Happy Valentines Day

Since Jackson has been in mom's day out at church this year, he has always talked about one friend in particular. We noticed that at first he seemed to pick on her. I figured out this is what he does when he really likes you, he picks on you and tries to play rough(he must really love me). Over the months he has begun to play nice and just maybe she is starting to be his friend........

He has good taste, no?

Thanks Jackie for taking this picture! It's priceless!

Hope you have a good day with your loved ones!

Funny

Spring Reading

I'm still here. I'm aware that I haven't posted in a long time. I got sick the first week of December and it took me 3 weeks to get back in the swing of things and then it was a mad dash to get ready for Christmas. I decided to take some time off for awhile and enjoy these precious beauties

 

I'm trying to simplify life as much as possible and enjoy the life I have been given. It's amazing how the little things can keep you so busy. But I want to enjoy it and not rush to get to the next thing.

I pulled out a book I read over 10 years ago and I remember at the time how life changing it was. Revisiting it has been wonderful and I highly recommend it to any woman out there. 

Simple Abundance

Give it to yourself this Valentines Day. 

While on the subject of reading, let me share this with you also. I opened up a quirky little catalog that many of us probably get,Sundance , by Robert Redford and saw the neatest little stack of books.

Entitled Spring Fling Romantic Reads it includes various classic love stories that would be perfect reading for the upcoming beach season. I'm on a kick lately to read more classic literature.

They also had clever reading sets called Tuck in Reading, A Manly Man Reading Redux, As the Sun Wanes and the Leaves Fall , and Clever Reads for the Cognoscente. 

Happy Reading!