ETSY FINDS: ACCESSORIES

SILVER SPOON HANDLE EARRINGS FROM THEGOBSTOPSHOP

IVORY FEATHER BABY HEADBAND FROM STARZSELECTION

(COLORADO FIND!)

BEIGE STRIPES RECONSTRUCTED NECKLACE FROM HOOGS

(COLORADO FIND!)

BEAUTIFUL CAMEL TOTE BY SMADARS

HAND-FELTED FROM WOOL FLORAL HEAD PIECE FROM CRAFTS2CHERISH

MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP

When you are in the valley, keep your goal firmly in view and you will get the renewed energy to continue the climb. -Denis Waitley

In my world, this running season, Saturday signifies "long run day".  I wake up to meet with my running group in the Denver / Boulder area for a 6:00AM or 6:30AM start. Many of the runs tend to be in South Denver, so I find myself waking up at 4:45 for the longer runs to be there on time!

Today, my run schedule said I had to run 16 miles. You will find out later in this post if I stuck to this mileage. We met in Lone Tree and began at 6AM since everyone was adding mileage and running for a longer amount of time. The terrain was pretty hilly compared to past group runs with an elevation change of approximately 85 feet per mile! What a workout!!

I ran almost the whole time with my pace group up and over hills and switchbacks.... The couple of times we went downhill, we were definitely super stoked!!

Now I haven't been sore yet running with this group - but today's run changed everything. I talked to other runners about this when we were stretching and FINISHED and they said they had strange pains and soreness....I guess it wasn't just me. I will blame the terrain. I will say though that I am thankful my longest run to date was on difficult terrain because this will make my other long runs easier. Fellow group runners said this was the most difficult long run they had done while running with our group! I guess that says something to.

Instead of 16 miles, I ended up putting in 18. Yes, it was super tough and I did have to walk for some of Mile 17..... BUT I was happy I decided to pick it up a notch. The distance matched up with the original Level 2 training plan I had been working off of. I was just thankful to be running with great people - they helped get me through and conquer those hills!!

Happy Running to all!! It is time for me to hit the hay!!

GREAT WORDS THROUGH IMAGES

GROW, BABY, GROW

My roses look like they have a second wind!! One of the three bushes has at least 7 blooms! There is another rosebush that looks like it may have some buds!! I am super psyched! They have looked so rough the majority of the summer, it's nice to see *fingers-crossed* that they are back and growing!

JULIE + JULIA

For book club, we completed Julie + Julia by Julie Powell. I was super excited we chose this one from the hat, as I have been wanting to read it forever!! The movie was very good, but I actually liked the book better! They definitely complement one another very well...

I found a deep connection to Julie - she messed up in the kitchen, got a upset about it, and in the end took a deep breath and got the job done - completing 3 or so recipes a night from Julia Child's cookbook: Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Julie took on the adventure of cooking every single recipe from MAFC, blogging about it, and risking her marriage to Eric, her long love. She took on a new role, really changing her life and setting it around her crazy goal!! Cooking in her cramped NYC apartment, finding all of the ingredients - which was an adventure in itself, she decided this goal that was "not easy, just simple".

"... I began to ponder; this life we had for ourselves, Eric and I, it felt like the opposite of Potage Parmentier. It was easy enough to keep on with the soul-sucking jobs; at least it saved having to make a choice. But how much longer could I take such an easy life? Quicksand was easy. Hell, death was easy. Maybe that's why my synapses had started snapping at the sight of potatoes and leeks in the Korean deli. Maybe that was what was plucking deep down in my belly whenever I thought of Julia Child's book. Maybe I needed to make like a potato, winnow myself down, be a part of something that was not easy, just simple." 


Julie was stuck in a job that was just not fulfilling. She didn't feel fulfilled with her life in general. She had a wonderful husband - but she needed something more... This is why the book Julie + Julia exists. It is comforting to know that you can put a goal in a place - work hard at it - and it could in fact change your life! Julie helps convince the world that once you set your mind to something - no matter how crazy people think you are (like her mother, for instance)  - great things can come out of it!


Julie taught me that you don't have to be stuck in a crappy job and lose everything creative or everything wonderful about yourself. You should always be reaching for something more. There is more to life than mere work and paychecks. If passion is not in your work  - then find it somewhere else in your life and GO FOR IT!


My favorite segment of the book was crustacean-related. The lobsters. How she could have her lobster "victims" in a brown bag on her back seat - driving around frantic NYC - hearing them moving around behind her - I am not sure I could do this!! It was kind of heart-wrenching when she described having to kill her victims... Again something else I don't think I could do!!

"When I got home I peered down at the lobster to see how he was doing. The inner plastic bag was sucked tight around him and clouded up. It looked like something out of an eighties made-for-TV movie, with some washed-up actress taking too many pills and trying to off herself with a Macy's bag."

WORDS OF WISDOM - DON'T SETTLE

The below advice from Paul Ferrini are words I tell my friends, but forget to tell myself... Always remember not to settle!!!


"Most of you know what you want, but you do not wait for it. You are constantly compromising your needs and your values to fit the situations which present themselves to you. You take the job or the relationship not because it offers you what you desire, but because you are afraid a better offer won't come. You live your life afraid to take risks because you do not want to give up the security you have.

I have news for you. That security is your death knell. It prevents you from asking sincerely for what you want.

If you are ready to release negative, masochistic, people-pleasing patterns, you must be willing to stand in the conviction of who you are, no matter how others respond to you. You must reach down deeply inside yourself and affirm yourself as you alone know yourself to be."

               Paul Ferrini, in "The Silence of the Heart" 

Honeymoon Dreams - COSTA

So, fingers crossed, we have finally agreed on a destination for our honeymoon in 2011 - COSTA RICA!!

I am so excited I am all ready reading all about it and trying to get an idea of what there is to do and see!! I am a big fan of lists... So, of course Costa Rica needs a LIST!

Here is what I have come up with so far, I will add more as I keep talking to friends about what they recommend... At this point I am trying to figure out which areas are less touristy, more unknown! Some say the South Coast ? Let me know your thoughts :)

1. Climb Cerro Chirripo

2. Bungee Jumping

3. Surfing Lessons (taught by Kelly Slater ;)

4. Beach - relaxation is KEY!!

5. Tenorio Volcano National Park / Rio Celeste

6. Scuba Diving