Silentish Saturday #4,596.

Run outside before the sun rose.
Fancy coffee
Dinner party/game night with friends.

We are having a fun trip to celebrate my soon to be 8 year old. Hotel, aquarium, a pool, extra tv and she is in heaven. We are 3 weeks away from her b-day but our weekends are busy the rest of November. Hoping to have my hubby agree to a zoo trip tomorrow before heading home. He is all about getting home early before the week starts.

I love how you cut that ginormous apple. I have a hard time biting into apples–my middle two teeth got severely broken in a biking accident when I was 9, and I have had first bonded teeth and now crowns as an adult, so biting into apples is an absolute no-no. All my life I have needed them sliced. And now I know how to eat a candy apple. (BUt I am also kinda sorta giving you the stink eye for making candy apples now a possibility in my life…extra temptation! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!…….she says jokingly…)

YAY for strength workout! I am up and in yoga clothes and ready to go to a class at the first yoga studio I ever went to and called home to me. I found my way to actual yoga classes with a new student special for the yoga studio around the corner from my old apartment when I lived in Columbia, and since I am here for the weekend and my favorite teacher teaches the 9:30 class–I am stopping in, giving Leslie an enormous hug, and finding my happy place in that beautiful and loving space where I felt so at home at a really critical time near the end of my phd program when anxiety could have taken over.

In the middle of the day I am showing TOm more of my Missouri town–in particular I am driving him down to the Katy Trail (or the MKT…) which is where I logged SO MANY MILES AND MILES AND MILES and where I fell in love with running. It’s also a place where–to ping back to discussions from the start of the week–I understood in a VERY tangible way how personal my relationship with God was and where I felt a lot of validity and authenticity in that statement. I used to tell people that my relationshpi with God was personal, and I believed it deep in my core, but something about spending time running on those trails and asking questions about my life and whatever challenged were in front of me…while also looking around me and taking in every little bit of the natural world and the way that its cyclical nature endures over time…made me feel like I wasn’t alone and that somehow everything I would question, think about, or go through had its OWN cyclical nature. And there was one run in particular where I was thinking about all of this and I literally asked in my head, “God are you listening?” And though it wasn’t the season to see red cardinals all over the place, two red birds flew right across my path. And I sort of smiled and sort of cried as I kept running.

I get to show Tom THAT place today. And maybe convince him to drive to the south end of town where there’s nothing but big box stores…SIMPLY to check out the new Fleet Feet location that opened up. And maybe buy a big fluffy Fleet Feet hoodie if it says COLUMBIA MO on it because I need as many reminders as possible of a place that I have chosen to call one of my truest, happiest, deepest homes (though I can also say the same for Boston–it’s a town that has absorbed the shock of every thunderous bit of life that I have had to deal with, and where I still managed to be OK and to be full of hope and dreams…).

And the last big thing: tonight is my friend Kevin’s wedding! He and his partner Adam began dating when Kevin was my student in my Writing About Literature class (the theme was Immigrant Voices in 20th C American Literature and it was the FUNNEST literature class I have ever taught), and Kevin somehow got absorbed into my own army of friends and soul-sisters and brothers over the years. I love that TOm and I get to celebrate LOVE, and that we get to celebrate Kevin, and that Kevin’s wedding created the best reason for me to actually bring Tom back here and show him a place that has come to mean so much to me!

OK–time to go take a walk and find myself on my yoga mat! Have the BEST BEST BEST day, Janae! Wish you could unroll a mat next to me!

That’s so cool that you & your sister do that!! I’m excited to put in my long run. (My half marathon is two weeks from today!!) I also am attending a birthday party for a very excited seven-year-old. The rest of the day will be running errands with my man & hopefully relaxing at some point! Have a great weekend!

Your nephew’s face!!! And, I also just took my son’s milk duds yesterday ?
Today will start with a good run followed by strength work, then typical Saturday stuff (drop one kid at school, run to the grocery store, etc), then down to San Clemente for the band competition!
I’m betting your house seems a bit quiet the weekends both Brooke and Knox are gone! But, enjoy the one on one time with Skye ❤️
Have a great Saturday!

Contemplating a run, but it it is gross outside. So, might use our free passes for a climbing gym. Drinking hot cocoa and then a good book :) The caramel apple looks so good! We might make one!

Happy Saturday Janae!

Ah caramel apples sound good! I went running and getting a massage later. Then watching cal vs Washington state. Go bears!!!

Finishing making treats for a Diabetes walk. (diabetic friendly and some are allergy friendly)
Giving a nutrition talk on proper refueling after working out and how to give your kids healthier alternatives to store bought granola bars, chocolate milk, etc.
Collapsing on the the couch.

Ran a 9 Mile race, ate an apple fritter for the first time (and I’m obsessed), and spent time with family!