one / two / three / four / five / six

Like I recently mentioned, I've been whittling down my summer wardrobe options. I'm only a week or so into this experiment, but so far I find it much easier to decide what to wear each morning! Here are a few things I have recently added, hope to add, or just generally love!

one / as much as I love to live in sandals all summer, I'm realizing that just isn't possible here in Cleveland. The time to get these was probably a few months ago, but I'm still dying for a casual summer tennis shoe.
two / I recently got the Supergoop CC cream, and I'm in love. I used the Josie Maran SPF 40 all last year, and really liked it. However, as a very sweaty person, it made my face very shiny. I ran out this winter, and found this. All natural with sunscreen, light coverage, and a matte finish (hallelujah).
three / These sandals will be a replacement for a well worn pair I got a few years back. I'm hoping they have a little bit more support than the older pair, and thing they will go with everything.
four / Not actually something I plan to buy, but a really fun shirt for summer!
five / This might be the shirt that started it all... I spent an absurdly long time looking for a chambray shirt that was both inexpensive and that I love. After exhausting all my usual inexpensive stores, I finally caved and bought this J.Crew classic a month or two ago. It is not an exaggeration to say that I wear it all the time, with everything. I'm doing much more laundry in an effort to always have this clean and ready to go - always a good thing!
six / And a bright lip, of course.

On contentment

Sunset over Lake Erie

I've always loved those magic moments, the very brief, not frequent enough moments where every part of me knows that this very moment is exactly where I should be. A few weeks ago, I was in the backyard with my husband. He had just strung twinkle lights up all around the yard, and had been working hard to revive our backyard after this long winter. It was still a little too cold to eat outside, but after a winter inside, we were going to make it happen. After dinner, a great conversation, and a few glasses of wine there was a comfortable silence. In that silence, I was overwhelmed with the feeling that everything was just as it should be. 

For a few months before this night, I was in a rough spot. It was very far from my first rough spot, yet unfortunately they never seem to get any easier. The overwhelming feeling that I had was that there was not enough, that there was some part of me that needed to be filled. Yet, whatever I tried to fill the whole with only left me feeling more lacking. All I could focus on what what I did not have. 

Thrilled to be able to wear my moccasins again

That night a few weeks ago was a bit of a turning point for me. Instead of needing more, maybe I needed less. So I did what I always do when I want to find something out, and googled something along the lines of, "how to be happy with what I have." An hour or so later, I started to feel like I was on to something. Maybe with less clutter, less distractions, I would actually see the beauty in my life as it currently is, and not how I want it to be. Perhaps if I stopped trying to fill this feeling of "not enough" up with dinners and drinks and friends and movies, maybe if I just acknowledged that this hole in me existed, then that would take away its power. 

Little baby tomatoes

And surprisingly, it seems to have worked. Since then, I've been trying to be much more intentional about things. I packed up most of my clothes and put them away, just leaving myself with the options I pick almost every day no matter how full my closet is. We decided to start saving more money for travel, and to spend less on things, and even came up with a plan to do that. I whittled down my summer wish list to three quality items, instead of lots of cheaper things. We've been making dinners at home, and I've really enjoyed cooking them. We planted vegetables in our backyard. 

Getting some sun

So for now, I'm focusing on being more intentional. And I'm going to hope it keeps working! 

February :: I Choose

Goals are tricky. I love the motivation, but for me, its all too easy to slip a little, miss one day or one week, and just give up. Its hard for me to find the balance between setting goals that are specific enough and making them so rigid that I feel defeated if they aren't done perfectly.

It may seem silly, but rephrasing how I think about goals makes a huge difference. So for 2014, I decided to pick "choose" as my word of the year. Word choice is a powerful thing. The difference between "I have to" and "I choose" is immense, and provides me with a daily reminder that my life is a sum of  my priorities and my choices. At this point in my life, there is very little that I actually have to do. I don't have to do the dishes, I choose to do them because I feel better when the kitchen is clean. With limited time and energy, I choose to be intentional and prioritize the actions that make me feel fulfilled.

So, in the shortest month of the year...

I Choose

to run 60 miles. and to keep running, even if it doesn't look like I'm going to hit that goal.

to take more pictures.

to continue with market mondays.

to bake a loaf of bread.

to set a date to go see my brand new nephews.

to keep reading.

to send cards and packages to good friends.

to finally unpack and organize upstairs.

to finish my quilt.

to stop complaining about the weather.

[week two] towpath half marathon training

Another week down! Even though this week wasn't perfect, I did my best. I may not have great mileage, but I did set a record for my coldest run ever. And then I promptly joined a gym. 

Monday: Spin class! I had plans to go with a good friend, and when she let me know she'd double booked I almost backed out. Lucky for me, Harness Cycle is smart and requires you to cancel the day before to get your money back. Since I'm cheaper than I am lazy, I headed off to get my butt kicked, and it was wonderful! 

Tuesday: The dreaded speedwork. When I looked at the weather in the morning, I realized it was one of those weird days where it was just going to get colder and colder, so there was no reason to wait until the afternoon to head out. Then I turned on my computer, and somehow it was already noon. When I left it was 12 degrees with a windchill of zero. I warmed up the car, bundled up, and congratulated myself on being quite a bad ass. I hit the track for an abbreviated warm-up, then started on 12x400 in 2:03 with a 400 recovery jog in between. I made it through 10 before I was just TOO cold. My water bottle had frozen, and the half of the track where I ran into the wind was just unbearable. My splits were 2:03; 2:06; 1:59; 1:59; 2:03; 2:05; 2:02; 1:59; 2:00; 1:58. In total, I only covered 5 miles due to cutting the workout short. By the time I quit, the windchill had dropped to -2 and I have never been happier to get into a hot shower.

Wednesday: I was still thinking maybe I could get through this winter without joining a gym, and set out for an easy three miles. I got it done, with an average pace of 10:30.

Thursday: Another cold day! I woke up and couldn't stand the thought of running outside, so I just made delicious giant chocolate chip cookies and called it a day. Not regretting that decision one bit.

Friday: I finally sort of joined a gym. I still am not ready to take the plunge on a monthly membership, but I got a punch card with 5 visits, so at least I will have access to a treadmill! Unfortunately, it didn't change the fact that I still dislike the treadmill. I managed to get a one mile warm up in, then three tempo miles at 9:09. Missing one more tempo mile and the cool down, but at least I got something in! Next time I'm going to bring B's ipad and see if watching tv makes things more bearable.

Saturday: Nada! I spent all day with 35 high schoolers on an overnight orientation. It snowed and snowed and snowed, and was so pretty! I think I got my workout in trying to keep up with them all weekend.

Sunday: Spin class with a friend! I didn't get home from the mid-year orientations and a training until around 3 pm. I was so pleased that Arleigh had already asked me to go to spin, because without a friend-date, I definitely would have ended up on the couch, wine in hand, for the rest of the day.

This week:

Monday - speedwork. 8x600 @ 3:03 w/ 400 recovery jogs. Based on the amount of snow outside, this is going to have to be on the treadmill.

Tuesday - rest.

Wednesday - 4 mile tempo run + spin.

Thursday - easy 3 miles

Friday - easy 4 miles

Saturday - 5 miles

Sunday - rest.

How did your weeks go? Is this weather making things hard on anyone else?

around here

via iopop

wishing for some cozy wool socks. 

hoping to finish reading my book in time for book club. 

joining a gym (you win, winter). 

snuggling with my dogs. 

baking my new favorite chocolate chip cookies.

watching Friday Night Lights at a crazy fast pace. 

attempting to make a quilt.

looking forward to spring. 

re-reading a beautiful article send by a good friend. 

feeling inspired by this clean, cozy bedroom.

cooking comfort food. lots of chilis, curries, and soups over here! 

dreaming of a vacation to the Amalfi Coast.

drinking a bit too much red wine. 

brainstorming cheap winter date nights. 

going outside. 

grateful for oh so much :: husband, friends, family, dogs, books, blankets, netflix.

[week one] towpath half marathon training

I'm relatively new to the running world, but have always found a lot of my inspiration from running blogs. Despite spending a lot of time making training plans, my follow through leaves a bit to be desired. I have some time goals this year, and while they might be a little big and hairy, I would love to see what I can accomplish with some good old fashioned hard work. 

Monday: 1 mile warm-up, 6 x 400 @ 1:50 with 1:50 rest, 1 mile cool-down. I have never really done speedwork, but since it seems to be the way you get faster, this training plan involves weekly speedwork. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and I felt great afterwards. Things really step up this week though, and I have to admit that I am very nervous! 

Tuesday: 2.5 miles @ 10:52. Went on a run around the neighborhood with my dog, Abby. She loved it, and I was dragging a little bit. I followed it up with an evening Thai Yoga/Vinyasa class with one of my good friends. We both agreed that although the class was challenging, we basically both just wanted a Thai Yoga Massage... 

Wednesday: 3 mile tempo @ 9:09. Eesh, this was a doozy. The plan called for one mile warm-up, 3 miles at my goal race pace of 9:07, and one mile cool-down. I made it through with tempo miles of 9:09, 9:08, and 9:07, but with a whole lot of stopping. This made me very concerned that my 2:00 half marathon goal is a little out of reach, but I will wait a couple more weeks before reevaluating that. I haven't been running seriously for a while, so hopefully my fitness will pick up. I ended up covering 5 miles with an average pace of 9:41. 

Later that night I went to a spin class at this wonderful new place, Harness Cycle in Ohio City. I've gone to a few classes there, and while I have liked all of them, this Wednesday night class with Danielle was amazing. I was expecting to be seriously dragging after that tempo run, and would have canceled except that I couldn't get my money back that late. However, Danielle hit us with an awesome 90s mix, and I found it to be one of my best classes yet! 

Thursday: rest! 

Friday: 2.5 easy miles with B and the dogs on the towpath. The weather was pretty crappy, but it is still always nice to get out of the house with the dogs. 

I wish it was still warm enough for shorts! Just had to throw in a picture of my fave running partner!

Saturday: Unplanned rest day. I had 4 miles at a long run pace on the books, but ended up just having a very lazy weekend. Hopefully this week will be better! 

Sunday: Rest. I considered making up the long run, but my cozy couch got the best of me. 

Here's what's on deck for this week: 

Monday - spin 

Tuesday - speedwork. 12x400s - yikes! 

Wednesday - easy run 

Thursday - 4 mile tempo 

Friday - easy run 

Saturday - 4 mile long run 

Sunday - rest 

There's a cold front in Cleveland right now, and I still haven't found a treadmill to use, so I'm going to have to dig deep! 

Any suggestions for motivation for winter running?? I seem to do okay in the teens, but with the single digit forecasts this week, its going to be tough! 

2014.

wit + delight

I've always been a big proponent of the clean slate/fresh start. 

Despite the bad rap Monday gets, I've always found it so wonderful that every seven days, we get a chance to start over, and to do better. 

It should come as no surprise that I love January. The whole year is ahead of me, and anything seems possible. For years I spent January coming up with insanely lofty goals that seemed, in the haze of the new year, to be completely reasonable. I was a little drunk on the idea that this year was going to be the year. Come February, I'd lost some of my zest. My ambitious goals seemed impossible, and by May I'd all but given up on them. 

The last few years, I have taken a new approach. This approach, while not as exciting, is much gentler. My resolutions have become smaller, and I am happy to just be making any forward progress. 

So in that vein, I am moving forward on what has been a goal for the last few years. I am starting a blog. As someone who has always understood myself best through writing, I wanted a place to share what inspires me and brings me joy, where I struggle, and to document the small things that are so easy to forget. I have found it so incredible that even when big things are so incredibly hard, something as small as watching the cream spread through my coffee can bring me a small bit of joy. This is my little corner to share my cozy delights.