Stories from my iPhone

My legs were JELLO by the end of my run yesterday.  We did our speed on the trails and a lot of FAST on the ups.  Hopefully the ups at CIM will feel easier after this workout.

Emilee and I did the first 9.99 miles (I didn’t realize that I was so close to 10 until I saw this screen at the end and 9.99 drove me a little crazy haha) w/ 1200 ft of up and then I hurried home to see Brooke off to school and then did another 4.3 miles after to cool-down.

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Today’s post is just a bunch of pictures from my phone that I haven’t shared yet along with their stories:

*I have now lived by my sister for over a year and we both go to the same grocery store by our houses MULTIPLE times a week and we have never run into each other there until the other day.  I was excited it finally happened.  I took a picture with my niece and my sister photobombed it to celebrate.

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*The feeling Andrew experiences when he see’s our kids mountain biking is equivalent to the feelings our kids experience Christmas morning when they see their presents.

These two are a lot more brave than I expected and so far they love it.  I’m even getting on my bike and going with them too so Andrew is in heaven.  He even has Brooke going off mini JUMPS already.

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*The days Andrew doesn’t work are by far Skye’s favorite day.  She just loves being his little buddy.

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*But I guess she is okay with the days it is just the two of us too;)

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*The employee’s at Great Harvest know us by name now… not sure if that is a good thing haha.

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*Brooke has created quite the nail salon and she even put her Halloween candy that she got last weekend in a bowl to put next to her like they do at the salon that I go to sometimes.

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*The other day Andrew and I picked up some meat and cheese to eat on the bench of the park while the kids played.  It was so simple but so delicious and fun.

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*Oops.

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*This was a very interesting listen…

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*When you ask your husband to write on your friend’s gifts because he has way better handwriting than you do….

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*2nd time is the charm!  Brooke pierced her ears a while ago and when they got a little infection (my bad… I bought some really cheap earrings on Amazon) she said she was retiring earrings.  But then she asked to get them pierced again (and now I will buy better earrings and she is old enough to take really good care of them) so we went for it.   We also learned the first time to do them BOTH ears at the same time so we did that this time and it went way better.

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*Found this little picture of my arm before the race.  Writing these reminders on my wrist helps me SO much during a race.  Try it!

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*Andrew makes the most amazing salads to take to work!

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*Can anyone help me out with something?  I really want to get new seat pads made for our window seats because these have seen their day (the padding is very thin now and they have stains;) but I have NO idea what fabric to get for them.  If anyone reading can help me out (or do I just have new ones made with a similar patterned fabric?) with some ideas… I would love that.  My brain does not do well with this kind of stuff haha.

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Decorating your living space—> fun, stressful, not your favorite thing, other?

How often do you go to the grocery store each week?

Any kitchen accidents happen to you lately?

-It’s always a bummer when you don’t put your lid on the blender properly haha.

Any parents reading—> What are some of the things that just make your heart so happy when you see your kids do them?

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46 comments

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You think Andrew could teach me how to mountain bike, too? I don’t even have a mountain bike now, maybe I should get one.

I had the same issue as Brooke with my ears when I was younger – it was usually the nickel in the posts of cheaper earrings. We figured this out when I was…I think 14? So from then on we always looked for sterling silver or 14k gold. I’m high maintenance I guess.

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Hahahah high maintenance! I’m sure my ears would hate the nickel too! Yes, he would LOVE to! Come out and borrow my bike! Have an amazing day!

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Emily Henderson just did a post on upholstering with kid-friendly fabric, maybe it’ll help! Here’s the link: https://stylebyemilyhenderson.com/blog/all-the-whys-hows-and-how-muchs-of-upholstering-with-crypton-fabric

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Ahhhhhhhhh you are the best! THANK YOU JENNY!

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We used the wrong tamper on the blender recently, and it shattered the blender. We ended up with marinade and bits of plastic all over the kitchen walls! Thankfully we have tile walls in the kitchen so clean up wasn’t too bad (although the t-shirt I was wearing at the time was permanently ruined).

I’ve had similar issues with earrings as Brooke: I find that surgical steel, gold, and silver are the safest earring options. I avoid anything with copper or nickel since they really irritate my ears.

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SHATTERED THE BLENDER… oh I can’t imagine! Glad it wasn’t too crazy to clean up. Thank you for the tip… that is going to REALLY help us this second time around. I hope you are having a great day Isla!

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It makes my heart happy to see my daughter (she’s 25) excited to train and run half marathons and marathons with me. Growing up she played all the sports but didn’t love to run. She moved away a couple years ago for grad school and when life got stressful she started running and I have to train hard to keep up with her now! It also makes me overjoyed when she sends me pictures of the dinners she makes – she is a wonderful cook and loves to create delicious meals for her boyfriend or her roommates! I usually go to the grocery store once a week and my husband goes about once a week also. Life is easy now when it is just the two of us to feed.

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Jo, this makes me SO happy that your daughter is now into running and doing it with you. That’s my dream! She sounds absolutely amazing, you did a wonderful job raising her. Hope your day is a beautiful one Jo!

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I get so happy seeing my oldest son play sports. It’s just been fun to cheer and I didn’t realize how into it I really get at 6 year old sports!
I love that you and Skye have those special dates to get bread together. I should be better about doing something special with my 4 year old who is in part time preschool before he goes to school full time next year.

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I am sure you are doing an amazing job with your 4 year old! 6 year old sports really are so fun… I always get nervous for them and then remember they are 7 and playing because they love playing haha. Hope your day is a wonderful one Mary!

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My son is really starting to get a sense of humor. I do this thing called the “tickle spider” where I pretend my hand is a spider, and I tickle him or my husband. Well, he’s started doing it to us now! It’s the cutest thing and when we react, he LAUGHS so hard! He also pretends his stuffed animals are talking and does all these silly voices. Just thinking about it warms my heart.

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HAHAH oh I need to see him do tickle spider to you! SO so so cute. It’s so fun to see their little personalities come out more and more each day. Hope your day is a wonderful one Stacey!

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Andrew’s a lefty, like me! It’s kind of a miracle that he has good handwriting. We’re known for the opposite….

I’m so allergic to nickel that I have to buy special nickel-free belts (the belt buckles often have nickel otherwise)
and replace the buttons on my jeans with special nickel-free buttons. This all happened when I was older– 35ish–
so I hope Brooke’s allergy is limited to earrings. But if she gets an itchy rash on her stomach ever, that may be why.
Passing that along b/c it took me a lot of googling to figure out what was going on….

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I’m a lefty too and I definitely do not have good handwriting haha! Interesting about your nickel allergy and I’ve NEVER even thought of that. I’m going to pay closer attention, thanks so much Emily for sharing this with me! I hope your day is a beautiful one:)

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Ha! I remembered to bring an apple for a snack today, so my hunger pangs at seeing your Great Harvest goodness will be satisfied :)
Decorating used to be fun, but I seem to just be fighting the clutter battle these days ~ha ha~
I usually just do one big grocery shop on the weekend.
I laughed when I saw the blender spatter. My 11-y.o. son wanted to make dinner the other night. He learned that messes are part of cooking, LOL! But his spaghetti pie was yummy!
My kids are all in different life stages (middle school, high school, and working full time), so my heart melts when I see them doing pretty much anything together.

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I hope that you can get some Great Harvest soon because it’s just the best:) . I love that your son wanted to make dinner and I must try some of that spaghetti pie asap. I bet it is the best to see them getting together doing things… parenting is awesome! Hope your day has been great so far Corey!

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Girl, go to a fabric store (Jo Ann’s Fabric) or a local upholstery shop. They will lead the way! I would not really recommend Hobby Lobby because fabric is not their “specialty”. (I LOVE Hob Lob but I haven’t had the best experiences in their fabric department on multiple occasions)

The people that work at those places live and breath sewing and fabrics. They are usually so so helpful, especially if you go during the week when there are not as many customers. I would even take one of the pads with you.

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SO good to know about Hobby Lobby… thanks! I’ll check out JoAnn’s! Thank you SO much. I really appreciate your help and I’ll take the pad in on a Tuesday morning:) . Have the best day!

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I love a black and white buffalo plaid right now! Larger squares then the blue and white was (not so gingham-like). It’s still a neutral so it will go with all your decorations, but it would be more kid friendly then a plain color since stains and things can hide amongst the checks! Plus when you change out colors, the black and white can always remain!

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I just looked that up Sara and I LOVE IT!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU and I love this idea! Perfect for our family:) . Have the best day!

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They have inexpensive nickel-free earrings at Target so you don’t have to spend a ton of money on earrings. It was the nickel that caused problems with my ears And buying nickel free earrings solved it. If you have a Joann’s near you, bring one cushion with you and they can show you similar material. Also, Joann’s has great coupons and they use multiple coupons at the checkout.

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Awesome! Thank you SO much Mary… heading to Joann’s and off to find all of the coupons. Thank you so much for the Target tip too!

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Gah, blender accidents! A few months ago I made a green smoothie for breakfast, nothing new. When I was done I added a little soap and warm water and turned on the clean cycle. Oh my word! The lid was NOT on all the way! There was soapy water going EVERYWHERE! So I hurried into the kitchen, carrying my smoothie, and I slipped on the floor and fell spilling half of my smoothie on the floor and myself. Oi. The worst part is that we had family staying with us for the weekend! So my BIL and three of his kids plus my husband witnessed the whole thing. Such a mess!

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OH NOOOOOOOO! Brandy, this story is just too much! I bet you triple check the lid of the blender now (that’s what I do now ha). Hope your day is a beautiful one!

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My 11 year old had the same problems with earrings! They were always very painful for years even when wearing the sensitive kind. She let them grow closed finally and just recently pierced them again using the 24 k white gold. She has not had any problems now for a couple months (hallelujah) because that is no fun! She just has expensive ears I guess.

I have the same living room rug as you and I also have a big corner window seat. I searched forever but finally found fabric at Joann Fabric in the upholstery section, I’m in Iowa so I don’t know if they have those by you, and I went with a gray background with little white arrows to sort of fit the tribalish like theme the rug has. I love it! Good luck finding some!

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SO SO GLAD that your daughter’s ears are finally happy with the 24K white gold. That might be us too… high maintenance ears haha:) . Oh I have to find that fabric. Thank you so much and that sounds perfect!

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My daughter has sensitive ears, and we have had good luck with Claire’s sensitive ears earrings. Good and silver work too, but she loses too many to make that a workable solution.

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Oh you are the best thank you Jennifer. We will definitely grab some from Claire’s. Hope the rest of your day is great!

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Ok how is your niece turning into your twin!!! Kids get big sooo fast! Would you be kind enough to share your candy corn cookie recipe that you posted about a few days ago? I’d like to make them for my kids for Halloween! <3

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It really is all going by WAY TOO FAST. I swear she was just born. YES, I have it up and ready for tomorrow’s post or if you can email back to me right now I can send it to you via email. You are going to love them!

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Between me and my roommate we probably hit up the grocery store 4-5 days a week haha. We like food and cooking new things we don’t have the ingredients for.
A couple days ago I baked a pound cake and I thought for sure it was done (tested it and toothpick came out clean) but turns out it was very underdone in the middle so now we have this buttery molten-middle pound cake and it’s simultaneously gross and really good!?

My legs are still not quite ready to run again since my marathon but reading your posts makes me miss it! I’m hoping to try a little on Saturday.

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Roommates that also love food and cooking = the best! Hahaha Andrew would have LOVED your pound cake! Seriously so thrilled about your huge pr. You are amazing!

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Ok, so I had the same problem as Brooke with my ears. I got them pierced when I was 5 – they got infected and my Mom let them grow in. Then I got them pierced again when I was 7, and the SAME thing happened. I waited until I was 22 to do it again, and it finally stuck. I have a bad nickel allergy which is pretty common. What helps me most now (I’m 30) is only wearing really great quality earrings (like nothing lower than 14k gold), and wearing them ALL the time – seriously, wearing the nice earring more helps the hole stay open and not get crusty (gross). After doing that for a LONG time, I can sometimes wear the cheaper earrings, just not for very long before it gets itchy and red.

Also, I’ve done a little bit of research and I’ve found that some moms are taking their little kids to get their ears pierced at tattoo parlors. Apparently the people their have to do some serious internships and are more qualified than the mall employees. They are very sanitary and pierce their ears with a sterilized needle rather than a gun – I’ve read that the gun they use at the mall can actually cause some of the allergies (and my left ear piercing is crooked because the mall employee angled the gun wrong!). Anyway, sorry for the novel I’d just read bout this and thought it was really interesting! My Mom had my sisters ears pierced when she was just a baby – I know some people are super against that but I kind of wish I had that too, maybe I wouldn’t have had as many problems?

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Tess, I’ve never even thought about that as far as tattoo parlors go. That’s an EXCELLENT idea. The mall always kind of freaks me out. I wanted to go into a doctors office to have it done this time haha. Good to know for Skye… thank you SO MUCH! Sorry you went through all of that with your ears growing up! So frustrating!

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My pediatrician pierced my ears when I was a kid :) After your doctor doing it, I second the idea of a tattoo parlor. I’ve had my nose pierced three times (I’m apparently very indecisive and have taken it out twice, but third time’s a charm!) and the guys who all did it each time were excellent. Super clean, super meticulous. Just look for a shop with good reviews!

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Oh boy, this brings back so many memories of Neosporin and my earlobes. I can relate, Brooke! Luckily as an adult I’ve had no problems and love to wear earrings now.

I go to the grocery store 2-3 times a week. I’d love if I could do it all in one trip, but there are always a few lingering items or inspiration to make something different. Thats actually one chore I don’t mind, I just need someone to help me cook it all up once I get the groceries home ;)

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Good to know about Neosporin… in case she has an infection again! Hahaha I need someone to do the cooking part for me too:) Enjoy your day Michelle!

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Decorating is more stressful and not my favorite thing…I just don’t have an eye for it! I seem to be pretty content with the way things already are so I don’t put too much effort into decorating or changing things. *shrug emoji*

For the past forever my fiance and I have gone grocery shopping once a week on Sundays. We’ve recently started to push it out to every 2 weeks because we just really don’t enjoy going…haha. So far it’s been fine, there is a little less fresh food and more frozen type foods in that second week, but it makes life more enjoyable for now! It’s fun to experiment and see what ways of living work best for us :)

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Oh I love that you guys switched it up Alyssa… rather than just sticking with routine. I’m with you… grocery shopping is not my favorite thing and neither is decorating ha. Have a wonderful rest of your day!

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Okay, I’m very excited because I did speed yesterday and my pace (including warmup and cooldown) was 8:12, too! It was just 7 miles and it wasn’t at all uphill, and I did walking recoveries in between the intervals, which is not ideal for me, but being the same as you in any way just makes me feel FAST!

I hope Brooke’s pierced ears work for her this time! Your girls (and your niece) are all so beautiful, and I love how you dress them in grown-up clothes (your girls, I mean. I’m sure your niece chooses her own clothes, haha!)

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We ARE TWINS!! Oh I love it and way to go on your speed yesterday! You rocked it Leah ! Hahaha Andrew always teases me about that… I dress them how I like to dress;) . Hope your day is a wonderful one!

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Hi Janae,

Congratulations you on your recent PR. Your list of 10 things that helped you was very helpful for me. I noticed that prioritizing sleep was on your list and wanted to ask you a question about sleep. I have a difficult time getting good sleep when I’m training for a big race because I often get nervous about hard workouts and I find the night before a hard workout I have a hard time sleeping. Have you ever experienced this? And if so, do you have any advice? Thanks so much!

Anna

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Thank you so much Anna! You are not alone on that… that is very normal! For me when I am feeling nervous about a big workout the next day I like to take a very warm bath before I go to bed to help relax myself and then read something that gets my mind off of running. Whenever I remind myself to go off of effort rather than splits it really helps me to relax and realize that all I can do is my best. I have to remind myself that I run for FUN and luckily my times don’t pay the bills like the elites (I can’t imagine how stressful that would be). Take time to do things that calm you and take the pressure off of yourself. You’ve got this Anna!

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Thank you Janae for your quick and helpful response! :)

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I got my ears pierced when I was 10/11 years old and they would get infected all the time. I think it was the cheap Claire’s earrings. I got hypoallergenic earrings from amazon at one point which were great. Then my husband bought me some nice earrings from a jewelry store and I honestly left them in for years without issues, so expensive ears, but I also kinda hate changing my earrings and like to stick to studs anyway.

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Is Andrew left-handed too? If he is, so fun! I’m the only leftie in my family.

I love decorating, I just wish I had unlimited money to spend doing it ;)

I probably hit up the grocery store once a week, sometimes less like now when we’re in the middle of xc season so many of our meals are sandwiches :)

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