Tis the Season for Doing Good

December 1, 2014 by Jennifer

How many of you participated in the runner’s version of food guilt therapy last week, also known as the Turkey Trot? Before I ran, I never gave my local Gobble Hobble a second thought. However, I’ve recently decided that running prior to the Thanksgiving chow down is THE BEST tradition hands down. Why pray tell? It’s because we need to justify allowing ourselves a second slice of pumpkin pie. Maybe we can even splurge on a heaping dollop teaspoon of whipped cream on said pie.

Moment on the lips, forever on the hips be damned because I turkey trotted today.

Or in Cam’s case, amazing cakes that she makes!

Of course, there are other reasons to participate in a Thanksgiving race. We runners are philanthropists at heart and every race has a great cause behind it. This time of year, the spirit of gratitude runs high and we may think more about those who are less fortunate that us, those who are unable to run for fun. The Turkey Trot I ran was no different in that respect, but it was different in many other ways. By sharing it with you guys, I thought it might inspire you (and your coworkers, hint, hint) for next Thanksgiving.

On the Saturday before turkey day, the company I work for held their 32nd annual employee 5k turkey trot. It was open to family and friends of the human and canine variety. The registration fee was a mere fifteen dollars, and best of all, it would go to a few selected employees who had faced hardships in 2014. It’s a great event that gets participation from all levels of the company and all levels of running and walking. Employees can participate by running, walking, volunteering to work the race, or by sending in a donation.

Volunteers bravely braved the morning chill.

The course took runners through the company campus that spans three city blocks. Three loops and you’ve got yourself a 5k. This information will come in handy on my lunch runs! The race was organized very professionally by the volunteer team and included pro bibs, accurate timing and goodies for all after the finish.

The course map I didn’t read. This was my first mistake.

Someone needed more coffee.

And the best hat award goes to…

We get incentives for creating teams for the race. The largest team gets a trophy plaque, and the fastest team members each get a frozen turkey. Teams can be as small as four people and the largest team this year had 128 members! They make up silly names for themselves, like “Alpacas in Space”. (I don’t even know. I work for an aerospace company. In Boulder. I guess the reference to alpacas is obligatory?) There are age groups which are divided by gender, and same goes for kids. The fastest three adults in each age group get a frozen turkey, and the fastest boy and girl in each age group get one, too. The fastest male in my age group (30 – 39) was 18:36, and the fastest female was 20:24. Amazing! Also, I must accept the fact that I will likely never win a turkey at this race because these people are fast!

I’m following this guy home.

The free spread.

There were approximately 450 participants which means we raised just under seven thousand dollars for the recipients. One-sixth of the company was involved in a meaningful, healthy activity that built team spirit and goodwill across the campus. It was a warm way to begin the holiday season with mindfulness of how blessed we are. The CEO was there passing out turkeys to the winners of the race and the raffle, and people entered their dogs in the race to help contribute. I hear these guys are returning champions.

Hi. I’m a Tibetan Mastiff.

So there ya have it! Seems easy enough, right? If you get yourself a fancy timing clock, some muffins, a few turkeys, and some company merch to raffle off, you too can help your fellow employees with turkey trot proceeds. Seriously though, folks, this is a great idea with pretty minimal output of effort and labor. Now, go forth on this after-holiday-weekend Monday morning when everyone is grumpily facing their food guilt and dazzle your boss with this fabulous idea! They’ll be like:

Make it so.

As for my personal turkey trot success? Ummm, yeah…about that. Here is where I have to confess that I was so full of fail that morning. SO FAIL. I missed the start of the race by 3 minutes (stupid traffic), and I didn’t really read the course map, therefore, I didn’t really know where the finish line was. I missed the “spiel” and just jumped in and followed the other runners as they started their second lap. Safe bet, right? Yeah. Not so much. I never crossed the finish line, instead I made a beeline for the muffins.

Baked goods are my religion.

But no matter! No matter at all that I was wearing too many layers. No matter that the cold air and my asthmatic lungs don’t play nicely together. No matter that I missed the finish line and had no clue what I was doing! I had fun, and this was a great cold weather test run for the ColderBolder coming up next Saturday.

Just keep running, just keep running, doesn’t matter where you’re going!

A special thanks goes out to my husband who is always my personal race photog. He’s the bestest.

Heart this guy.

What Turkey Trot did you run this Thanksgiving? What’s your favorite Thanksgiving tradition? Have you ever totally flubbed up a finish? Console me in the comments!

Tales Of The Boot: Making Plans to Exercise (Get Me Out Of This Thing!)

May 21, 2014 by beewhobabbles

There are five days of school left. FIVE. In five days, I will have a first grader. In seven days, I will have a kindergartner (Her preschool ends two days later). In seven days, I will have three kids at home for the entire summer. Whoa.

It was both easier and more difficult last summer, because little dude was a baby. He wasn’t walking, so he was easier to cart around, but he also slept more, needed more breaks for changing, nursing, food, etc. This summer, he can walk, eat big kid snacks and he enjoys things- but man, he is into EVERYTHING.

Right now, our days are fun and a little exhausting, so I know that with my girls home, our summer will be more of both. Like Meri, I’m a planner, and I’m using these last several days to work on my calendar. We’ve got camps scheduled (Frozen musical theater camp, holla!), playdates in the works, our summer learning checklist (Big girl- tie her shoes and ride her bike. Middle girl- read. Little dude- sleep through the night. Haha. For real. Me- chess.), and a family vacation. It’s got me wondering though, where will exercise fit in?

When I trained for my first half-marathon, I did most of my runs at night. We had a treadmill in our bedroom and with a busy husband and a full daytime schedule, it was easier to wait until 8pm to get moving.

After my little guy was born, I became an early morning runner. He was (and is) a terrible sleeper, and if I was already getting up at 5:30, why not just get up at 5 and go for a run? I was lucky to have a friend in my neighborhood who was willing to join me.

This spring, I joined a gym. My best running friend had moved, and I really wanted to spend some time on the treadmill to work on my speed. (My home treadmill died two years ago and we haven’t replaced it.) My running time began after school drop off and I was again fortunate to find some pals to exercise with me.

Now I’m injured. I don’t know what my doctor will say on Tuesday about resuming activity, but I hope to be in the gym again next week. At least on an elliptical or bike. Timing-wise, I’m not sure what will work best. Early morning, mid-afternoon…I have no idea how crowded the childcare is and I don’t know- I hate to think of my kids spending their summer at the gym, even if it is only for an hour, a few days a week. Then again, we have a lot planned and that ME time will probably be necessary. Mommy guilt is a powerful thing, so we’ll see, I guess.

I do know that I’m going to ease back into things, even if the doctor clears me to run right away. I want to try the spin classes at my gym (Never done it! Any tips?). I’m both impressed and inspired by our friend, Megan’s, daily yoga pics on instagram, so I definitely hope to do more yoga and do it regularly. I still want to run, but I want to be cautious. I don’t want to be back in the boot anytime soon. Or ever again, really. I have a half marathon on my calendar in December, and I’m waiting to hear from the doctor before I add one in October. I’ve got time to figure it all out and get back on schedule. My exercise time will just have to go with the flow of summer. (Yeah, right. I will totally have a plan in place as soon as Dr. Fink gives me the go ahead. Ha.)

Morning, Mid-day or Evening runner? Do you find you’re more productive one way or another? I love early morning because then it’s done. But sleep! If you’ve been injured, how did you get back into your routine? How long did it take? Parents- How did you teach your kids to tie their shoes? I don’t even tie mine the right way! (I make two bunny ears and tie them together. It’s just what I’ve always done.)

Guest post: Consider me Cleansed

May 16, 2014 by scootadoot

I grew up a latchkey kid in the cornfield-laden suburbs of the middle of nowhere, Illinois. I pretty much came and went as I pleased, within reason. I relied upon myself for at least half of my daily meals. The meals that I made consisted of whatever I found in the house, and what I found usually consisted of the white starch food group and the overly sugary food group. When my mom cooked, it was usually a meat, bread, and potatoes sort of presentation. Our milk was 2%, always. We were all a part of the clean plate club, and dessert was never something we missed. This was all well and good. I didn’t know any different, and I liked it. I was an active kid: riding bikes, playing soccer, playing softball, running around the neighborhood…you name it, I was involved. So, activity and ultimately crappy eating were excellent partners. Until. UNTIL I hit puberty.

Puberty was not kind to me nor was it a friend of my “questionable food group” diet. I put on weight overnight, I swear. My thighs grew so quickly that they produced stretch marks. I went from being a fairly thin and athletic girl to a chubby 130 pound 8^th grader sporting a butch haircut. (The haircut has nothing to do with anything, but it was horrific enough to be worthy of mention.) This is where my battle with weight and food and self-image began.

I kept up most of my horrible eating habits right on through college. I added the food group “alcohol,” which might have contributed to making things a bit more than worse. I ate things called “beer nuggets,” and I ate them at 3am. I maxed out around 155 pounds. Just so you know, I’m not all that pretty at 155 pounds. Not gonna lie.

Sometime after college, as a working adult living on my own, I figured out that something had to change. I wasn’t happy. I didn’t feel good. I wasn’t comfortable in my own body. I had an epiphany that I simply couldn’t “have my cake and eat it, too,” AND be any combination of thin /healthy / happy. My metabolism didn’t work that way. My body knew how to turn a calorie into a fat cell faster than I could blink, and I needed to come up with a way to win the battle against the calories and fat cells. I needed a way to win the battle against myself.

It has been a journey of 15 or more years in the making. I have found balance. I still don’t know everything there is to know about food, and I don’t claim to be a health expert. I have learned that no one thing works for everyone. I have only learned what works best for me: overall healthy eating and eating everything in moderation. As easy as that sounds, it isn’t. People who have only known me in my adult life assume that I have always eaten well, taken care of myself, exercised, looked this way, etc. Appearances can be so deceiving! When you go on such a journey, you know that the journey continues. It has detours and breakdowns. It doesn’t end…it just goes on.

So, as much as I’d like to say I have it all figured out and that I never give into cravings for shitty food that are destructive to my body…it just isn’t true. I aim to have more better days than I have bad days. I run (when not injured, which is another story for another day). I go to yoga. I eat mostly well. But, I also falter. I also self-sabotage. I also suffer from body dysmorphia. If I gain 10 pounds or lose 5 pounds, I pretty much feel I always look the same: ok, but not great. That is me. I own it, and I am a work in progress.

Just before Easter, I had found that I was really giving into my cravings more than usual. My one or two bad days of eating turned into “I can just have something bad every day as long as I keep up my exercising…that is ok, right?” Once it starts, it is easier to just go with it. Sugar is addictive. It makes me want more and more and more. I’m seriously an all or nothing sort of eater (I eat all of the cupcake, not just a bite. I eat all of the Easter candy, not just a few pieces. I just can’t help myself, it seems). I adapt by eating the cupcake for lunch, that way the calories are still kept somewhat in check. However, my body can’t be fooled. Do that too many times, and the weight just jumps right back on, of course. I decided it was time to reset my body and get back on track. I didn’t feel good. I was up about 5 pounds. I wanted to gain back the control and the good feelings that good eating bring with it.

Enter: the Suja Juice 3-day cleanse. Just so you know, I am not a proponent of cleanses in general. Most of them involve a ridiculous combination of starvation and explosive “colon-purifying” diarrhea. (I’m just sort of against both of those things at my wise old age of 40. Consider me silly, but that is my stance.) When I came across this particular cleanse, though, I realized it was different. Their 3-day cleanse involves drinking 6 juices a day, for a total of 1200 calories. The juices are designed for different purposes throughout the day. This company does NOT urge you to enforce the rule of “chewing is cheating.” If you are hungry: EAT! If you are more active and require more calories: GET THEM! The only guideline is that you are smart about your choices. They recommend eating raw fruits and vegetables, drinking clear broths, or eating things like a baked sweet potato or an avocado. The idea is to rest and cleanse your digestive tract, and these choices will allow you to stay true to that idea.

My experience with this cleanse was a good one. It is recommended that you set yourself up for the cleanse by reducing sugar intake, eliminating coffee and alcohol, and eating a bit more lightly in the few days leading up to it. Uh huh. Yeah. I totally didn’t do that. I drank coffee. I drank my nightly jumbo sized glass of red wine. I ate as much as I could at an Easter brunch the day before. (Remember when I said that I self-sabotage? Well, here you go.) I knew I was starting the juice cleanse, so I just went crazy beforehand. Consider it the storm before the calm. Sort of backwards, sure, but that is par for the course in my world. Way to go, me!

When I commit to something, though, I commit! I jumped right into that cleanse the next day. I started day one with a juice and a yoga class. I figured it was smart to exercise first thing, prior to my body only having liquid sustenance and being a bit energy deprived. All went well there. I initially thought that I wouldn’t be able to give up my coffee and wine habit, but I did! I think that I was drinking so much throughout the day that I didn’t really crave anything else that was liquid. The first day I did make the mistake of not bringing one of the scheduled juices with me when taking my daughter to a movie. Too much time had lapsed between juices (you are pretty much drinking one every 2 hours), and I found myself VERY hungry. I cheated and ate 3 large bites of my daughter’s soft pretzel. Eh, nobody’s perfect. The rest of the day went well. No other cheats. No other problems.

Now I will say, on day one, I was not used to the juices. I’m not a “juicer” in general, so I didn’t know what to expect. The first juice (Glow) has a bit of an overwhelming celery presence to it, but it wasn’t too bad. I managed it. The second juice (Fuel) is bright orange and has a light sweetish taste of pineapple and orange. For the record, I loved this one. The third juice (Purify) is purple, thanks to the beets in it. My first experience with it was a bit interesting. This one is “earthy” and a bit “dirty” tasting, as in it sort of tastes like dirt. Really. I plugged my nose when drinking it the first go around. Next up was Fiji. It has a lot of apples in it, so I thought it would be amazing. I was wrong. I wasn’t prepared for the STRONG taste of ginger. I drank 2 swigs and called it quits. I drank more water to fill up my belly instead. For dinner there was Green Supreme. It is definitely green, but the taste surprised me. It was very much like apple juice, and I welcomed that immensely! Last for the day was Vanilla Cloud. It is designed sort of as a dessert. It has hints of vanilla, coconut, cinnamon, and nutmeg. I liked it. It is tasty. Other people RAVE about this one, but I have to say that the grit of spices and chunky bits of coconut meat turned me off to it a bit. Just a personal thing, I guess.

Anyway, the rest of the cleanse went surprisingly well. The juices grew on me, and I found myself actually looking forward to them. I didn’t even have to plug my nose at all. In addition, I managed to drink all of my Fiji drink on day 3. I’m not going to lie, I still had to kind of choke that one down, but I did it! I was oddly proud. I found what worked for me was adding in raw carrots and celery throughout the day. I also would throw in a banana or some grapes. When I was craving something warm to eat, I made up some vegetable broth and drank it from a coffee mug. This satiated that need, and it also added a few calories and a feeling of fullness that helped me through the process.

Some things to note:

I really wasn’t hungry, per se. I more missed the process of putting something in my mouth and chewing it. This is where the raw fruits and veggies came in.
I was pretty tired the end of day 1. I even went to bed early.
I was COLD during this process. I am generally cold, so this isn’t a big deal, but I certainly noticed feeling a chill. The warm broth at night helped with this side effect.
My teeth were very sensitive by day 3. Although there are no added sugars in these juices, they do contain a ton of pressed fruits which means there is a lot of natural sugars in them. I have sensitive teeth to begin with, so the sugar did a number on them. I would recommend using a straw!
I took off exercising on day 2, but I did go for a run on day 3. I was sluggish and my legs felt heavy. I still managed it, but I definitely noticed the lack of energy.
I constantly had to pee. I mean it. All day. Middle of the night. All night. When you are drinking that much liquid, I guess it is bound to happen!

How did I feel in the end? Did I lose weight? Did I feel reset? Would I recommend juice cleansing to others? Well, I will tell you. I felt pretty great after it was all said and done. I felt a sense of accomplishment and a sense of peace. I know that might sound a bit weird, but I don’t know how else to phrase it. Weight loss is NOT the ultimate goal of a juice cleanse, but it is often a by-product of it. In my case, I lost a total of 6 pounds. (I lost 3 pounds after the first day. I lost an additional pound after day 2 and after day 3. Oddly enough, after resuming my normal diet on day 4, I still lost an additional pound. I am back to my “happy weight.”) The best part of the entire experience was feeling reset. This cleanse gave me a chance to get away from all the sugar and junk and put me back on the path of “mostly eating well most of the time.” Given all of my positive experiences with it, I would highly recommend trying out the Suja Juice cleanse! I know that I plan on using the 3 day cleanse a few times a year, and I will probably throw in a 1 day cleanse from time to time. They have a lot of wonderful juices that I also intend to use as an occasional meal replacement or as a snack just to get in some extra fruits and veggies. It isn’t a cheap date, but I do like that everything is already thought out, prepared, packaged, and ready for me to ingest.

In the end, as we all know, there are no magic pills / diets / secrets that will turn us into picture perfect models of health and fitness. Every day we have to own our individual journeys and do our best to just keep doing our best. I am proof, though, that you can change your overall course. I’m not perfect, and I obviously still seek out ways to help me stay on track, or get back on track when I falter…but there is satisfaction in small victories and continued overall success. I find joy in sharing my experiences and offering up any tools that have worked for me, just as I embrace gaining similar knowledge from others around me who are also fighting the good fight.

So, have you cleansed? Do you have any tools that you use to battle cravings? What are different ways that you have succeeded in your journey to be healthy?

Megan Ritter is a stay at home mom, blogger and fashionista. She enjoys yoga, running, photography and the laugher of her daughter. Her secret powers include sarcasm and baking without a recipe. It’s quite possible that she was a cat herder in a past life. A Chicago area native, Megan now lives in Haddonfield, NJ with her husband, 4 year old daughter and dog, Batman.

Notes on purchasing Suja Juice: you can find / purchase Suja juice products and the 1, 3, or 5- day cleanse on the Suja website: http://www.sujajuice.com . Please note, when purchasing through their website the shipping costs are very expensive. This is fresh juice that must be shipped on ice overnight. I found and purchased the 3-day cleanse on Amazon.com, and I was able to greatly reduce the shipping expense / cost of the product. The price varies, but you can usually find a good deal here. You can also find many of the Suja juice products (and piece together your own cleanse) at your Whole Foods store.

Diet is a Four Letter Word

May 9, 2014 by bec2point0

So is cult. Hmmm.

Last week, Meri sent me a link to this very interesting post from Triathlete Magazine’s website.

You should give it a read. I’ll wait right here.

*folds nine millionth load of laundry*

So? Did you spend half of that article nodding like a bobblehead? Because I did.

Now, keep in mind, I had just come off on my less-than-30 day stint on Whole30, a diet with a decidedly cultlike following. But Whole30 is certainly not the only diet that meets at least a few of those criteria. In fact, most of the ‘diets’ I’ve been on over the course of my life fall into at least one of those categories, most of them more than one.

Similar to religion, I’ve spent years trying to find the one diet that just fit. Except that I accepted years ago that no one religion fully encompassed my belief system, yet I’ve continued to try on diet after diet, looking for the perfect one.

But no sooner had I adopted a new diet plan, then I would immediately start feeling the chafe of the restrictions and questioning whether the principles of the diet were even based in sound nutritional science at all. What do you mean no fruit? Why is peanut butter forbidden, but almond butter is fine? What do you mean no substitutions, I hate beets! Why does everyone need me to drink the Kool-Aid? WE’RE NOT EVEN ALLOWED TO HAVE KOOL-AID!!

Clearly, the part of the article that really spoke to me, the part that gave me one of those elusive ‘A-HA’ moments, was where the author, Matt Fitzgerald, talks about “agnostic healthy eating.”

Boom. Like a ton of bricks. This made so much sense to me.

I’ve said to more than one friend over the years, and even my doctor, that I keep waiting for the ‘magic plan’ that will finally work. And really, I’m an intelligent adult. Logically, I know that unicorns don’t exist and that the rabbit was really in the hat all along and that any number of diets will help me to lose weight if I’m willing to do the work. Still, there is a part of me that likes to believe that magic exists. And that a magical perfect diet exists.

It doesn’t. When it comes to weight loss, there is no magic. There are no fairy godmothers, waiting around to grant our wishes of instant and lasting weight loss.

Sorry. I know, I’m bummed too. (Let’s hug it out, we’ll get through this together.)

The funny thing is, the fact that a diet that is loaded with high quality food and light on processed food is the best option? This is not news. Anyone I know that has had significant, lasting weight loss, has done so by eating more whole, natural foods and less (or no) chemical laden junk, regardless of what name their diet plan had.

It seems so simple when it’s broken down like this. And really, without even really realizing it, my head was already kind of going to this place. Immediately after giving up my quest for a Whole 30 halfway through day 5, I immediately bopped over to twitter and tweeted the following (in several tweets because I am wordy and 140 characters is not a lot):

So, in the wake of my opting not to finish Whole 30, I needed a new diet plan. Decided to come up with my own and I’ve got it! It is a combo of vegan, clean eating, Paleo, weight watchers, low Carb, and a few others. I’m calling it Eat Food That is Good for You in Reasonable Quantities and Don’t Go Off the Rails When You Occasionally Indulge. The name needs work, admittedly. I took my inspiration from the Michael Pollan quote, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Brilliant.

I’m a little sassy on Twitter sometimes.

Look at that. I’m cured! Now that I have had these realizations, the weight will fly off my body like magic!

Oh. No. It won’t. I will still have to do the work. I will still have to make the tough choices, like ‘Cookies for breakfast? No. Not today.’ And I know myself well enough to know that cult-like or not, I do best with some kind of a plan, something with structure. It doesn’t have to be rules, especially if those rules are ‘no ice cream shall ever pass those lips again’, but the support system and the community aspects? Those parts of diets work for me.

Enter Weight Watchers. Surprisingly enough, when I joined, confetti did NOT rain from the sky and I was NOT handed a free toaster for being the member that had signed up the most times. Hard to believe.

While Weight Watchers definitely holds some of the characteristics of a cult-like diet, the one thing it definitely does not do is make any food forbidden. So, while cookies can’t be an everyday thing, and most certainly should never be for breakfast, they are something I can indulge in on occasion.

Weight Watchers is not the answer for everyone. Heck, it may not be the answer for me. But it’s a place where I feel like I can have my agnostic beliefs, where I can do it my way, and still be part of the ‘cult’.

I really wanted to make a commitment, to give this long enough to start to feel ‘normal’, so I prepaid for six months of meetings. I went for my first weigh in on Sunday morning. It was nothing unexpected. The plan hadn’t changed since the last time I joined. The number on the scale was nothing I hadn’t seen there before.

But it isn’t one I care to see again. So, let’s get to work.

*blows an eyelash of my finger*

Just in case.

That Thirty-ish Year Old Glow (You know you want it)

April 14, 2014 by beewhobabbles

I spent most of my weekend sitting around like this:

I’m not sure what happened, because I felt okay after the AC half last weekend. I had a couple of rest days and then ran four miles at the gym. Still feeling fine, I took my littles to the play gym and when I bent down to put my daughter’s shoe back on, a shot of pain went up my shin and I literally limped around for the rest of the afternoon. Compression and ice feel like old pals after spending all weekend together.

I don’t know what to think. I guess it’s still shin splints? I’ve never dealt with prolonged pain from running, so I have no clue how long it will take to heal. Boooo. Over the weekend, I was a bit sore in the mornings but once I got moving, I felt better. I haven’t done any cardio (I had planned on the elliptical but a busy weekend got in the way), but I’ve been fine during my strength workouts. I even did legs/butt on Saturday (my fave right now is the Malibooty routine by the Tone It Up Girls, mostly because it’s fun to say “Malibooty”). I’m going to try to run a short distance today-slow and steady- and see how it goes.

During one of my icing sessions, I received the following text from my best friend:

“Have you heard about the ‘toddler glow’?”

Now we both have toddlers, so I thought it might’ve been some new toy, but noooooo. Apparently, it’s a new makeup technique to make women look younger. Specifically, like a two year old. I mean, really. Really? REALLY?!

I researched this “toddler glow” and it seems that what you are supposed to do is wake up at 5am demanding to nurse in the big bed, ask for a cookie, break it into tiny pieces and rub the crumbs in your hair, and get someone to carry you everywhere. Unless you want to walk. Then you scream.

No, wait. That’s just how to be a toddler.

For the toddler glow, you are supposed to apply highlighter everywhere the sun hits, so you look like a a dewy JCrew model. Or like this girl:

And I want to be like “Eff you, makeup industry. Stop telling me that I should look younger, younger, younger.” It’s so unfair. Just last week, Mer and I were texting about our day (like what we were doing right that second) and I told her I was researching botox. Which is insane, because I’m in my early thirties, and I’m pretty sure Mer fell out of her chair before typing “Whattttttt?!” But I’ve lived in Florida my whole life and I have these forehead wrinkles and the elevens between my brows and I don’t know. I guess maybe I want to look like a toddler? Or I should have been wearing sunglasses since I was one, at any rate. But really, what is next? Should I aspire to look like this?

For the most part, I embrace my age. Sure, I miss having a perky booty and boobs that didn’t require a push-up bra (it’s crazy to me that there was a time when I could go out sans bra. Madness!). And as I’ve mentioned, I sure do miss that metabolism. But I love my life right now. All these years and choices and life has lead me to this time; with my husband and kids and so many wonderful things. But you know what? I am also a little bit vain and would like to get rid of the elevens.

Anyway, I am a girl who loves makeup and even though I think the name “Toddler Glow” sucks, I already sort of do this stuff.

My friends often ask me what I’m using on my skin. Just last week, my daughter’s dance teacher asked me if I’d recently had a chemical peel because my skin looked so great. (No, ma’am. My baby just started sleeping through the night. And I just got home from a girl’s weekend. I highly recommend it.) Here are some of my suggestions for glowing skin:

My arsenal of illuminating makeup.

From left to right: Physicians Formula Shimmer Strip in Miami Strip, YSL Touche Eclat, Clinique Airbrush Concealer (I AM OBSESSED.), Stila Illuminating Foundation (I mix this with bb cream and apply only where needed), Clinique Chubby Sitck Shadow in Bountiful Beige, Girl Meets Pearl by Benefit, Watt’s Up by Benefit.

I use some combination of these every day. The Clinique concealer is my absolute favorite. It makes me look like I’m Sleeping Beauty, waking from a 100 year nap.

I also recommend actual sleep. Little Dude started sleeping through the night three weeks ago (Yes, he’s 16 months. Yes, that’s a long time to go without sleep.) I feel like a new woman.

Drink your greens.

It’s supposed to help. My skin has never looked as good as it does when I regularly drink something green.

Get laid. Be safe about it.

Exercise! Obviously.

Take that, Toddler Glow.

Drink water.

Spend time with your friends. Laughing with your girlfriends is the best.

Tell me your favorite makeup product. Any tips for youthful-looking skin? Or we can talk about shin splints. What should I do?

Finding Balance on the Scale

April 3, 2014 by writeitdownjess

The scale and I have been having a disagreement lately. I get on it in the morning and it gives me a number I don’t like. I give it a look, eat my way through the day, and then get back on it at night. It still gives me a number I don’t like. Rinse and repeat for the past two months. That number really isn’t budging. It’s frustrating. It’s irritating. It’s disappointing, even.

I’ve been slender for my entire life. Before I had Bug, my metabolism was epic. If I gained a couple pounds and was unhappy about it, all I had to do was cut back on my calories for a few days and I’d settle back into my happy zone. I ate what I wanted for the most part. Didn’t have to exercise all that much to maintain a slim, not-too-squishy build. I had a flat stomach! And guess what? I still complained about my weight. I still looked in the mirror and thought “hmm. Not good enough.”

So maybe the problem isn’t my weight. Maybe my real problem is that I am never satisfied with my body. This body, which has carried me through 31 years of life and given me a crazy-amazing kid and kept me healthy, is still a disappointment to me. And I think it’s okay to feel uncomfortable when your weight creeps up to a higher number than you’re used to, or want. But the fact that I weigh myself, on average, 2 to 3 times a day sets off alarm bells in my head. It puts me in the danger zone. It means that I hear words like “thigh gap” and “ideal build” and think that my body, for everything it’s done for me, isn’t good enough. That my body, when it’s not perfect, makes me somehow less than. It’s not true, but it feels true.

I think about how I, a fairly reasonable adult who has the maturity to understand on some intellectual level that my weight and how I look doesn’t define who I am as a human being, struggle with this problem on a daily basis and I’m a little befuddled. I have thighs that jiggle. I’ve got a booty on me (look out, JLo, I’m coming for you). My stomach is soft and I have to hike up my jeans when I sit down so my little pooch doesn’t flap over my waistband. I’m carrying around 10 extra pounds that I’d love to take a hike. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not a rad person. I totally get that, and yet I don’t. I look in the mirror and think “ugh.”

Then and now (this was not fun to post).

Then and now (this is not fun to post).

This is not just my struggle. I love and hate that I’m not alone thinking these things. And I’m using Scoot as my diary today because I think that speaking these fearful thoughts out loud gives them less power. Also, I’m not going to turn down a pep talk or a “me, too” from you wonderful, kind readers.

I am working on living a healthier life. I hope that by default that sort of squashes the argument between me and my scale; I hate when we fight. But I know at the end of the day, the argument is really one-sided. It’s just giving me the facts. I’m the one who’s skewing them. I’m the one who’s making them uglier than they need to be.

Anyone else out there who feels the way I do? Or do you have some advice for me? Let’s talk it out in the comments.

A Big Butt and A Smile (except when my pants are too tight)

March 26, 2014 by beewhobabbles

I’ve always been curvy. I’m a classic pear shape, which means I can get really small through my arms and waist but my booty is always there. Thankfully, running has saved me from getting a mom butt. Why is it that childbirth, and let’s be real here- entering one’s thirties- makes gravity grab onto your cheeks and just drag ’em down? At 21, I wore a bigger pant size but my ass looked damn perky. Now I have to run. And squat. And lunge. And eat fewer cookies.

I’m doing pretty well on the cookie front, since I gave those up for Lent, but I’ve realized that I need to eat a bit better overall. I’ve gained about six pounds and I’m not really sure when that happened, though if I had to pinpoint, it was probably when we bought (and ate) allllll the Girl Scout cookies. A few weeks ago, my pants began feeling snug, so I stepped on the scale and discovered I was up from the last time I weighed myself (about six months ago).

This past weekend, I decided to do a little bit of meal planning and on Monday, I logged everything I ate into My Fitness Pal. What an eye opener! I think of myself as a healthy eater who overindulges on sugar, but if my food log for Monday was any indication, I’m consuming way too many calories overall. Oops. I’ve been nursing or pregnant for so long, I guess I just lost sight of things. And I work out a lot! Too bad that’s only part of the puzzle (waaaaah, why can’t chocolate be a diet food?).

I don’t think My Fitness Pal is for me for the long term- it was cumbersome and time consuming for me to enter in all that data, and I still can’t figure out how to enter in any exercise besides cardio, but it was a nice reality check. I want to be fit, but I also want to look fit, and fit into my pants.

So healthy-eating club, holla! Where my friends at? I know Cyanne over at Run, Stretch, Go is incredibly disciplined about eating clean, and she shares her recipes. Any other blog recommendations for me? I’ll share with you! We ate this kale salad (along with grilled chicken sausage) on Sunday night and it was delish. You know I love my greens.

Do you food journal? What helps you stay on a healthy eating track?

Going Green

February 12, 2014 by beewhobabbles

We’ve been going green for the past few months in our house. Green, pink, purple and sometimes even brown. I’m talking about smoothies, of course, which is not a new thing but it’s new to me. In the past I’ve preferred to eat my fruits and veggies whole, but I’m slowly starting to enjoy drinking my greens.

Once I began using the blender daily, we decided it was time for an upgrade. My friend, Dorothy, sang the praises of her Vitamix, and even made me some peanut butter with hers. When she showed me how easy it was to clean, I was sold. Two weeks ago, we brought home this baby:

Even Little Dude is excited.

Prior to setting up my Vitamix, I stuck to a pretty basic smoothie- banana, greens, almond milk. Now I’m alllll about experimenting.

First, I tried this kale smoothie- mango, kale, banana? Delicious. I drank this every morning until I ran out of frozen mango.

After eating Mexican food on Super Bowl Sunday, I tried this cilantro smoothie-

photo 2-13

The cilantro flavor was strong but I’m a cilantro fan, so hooray! Another win.

After my long run on Sunday, I had a recovery smoothie, but used protein powder instead of greek yogurt (because that was what I had on hand). This tasted okay…I’m not sure about the powder. However, I’m usually ravenous after a long run, even after eating, and with this, I felt satisfied until lunch time.

On Monday, I made a spinach and avocado smoothie . This was interesting, in a good way. I mainly tasted the tang from the greek yogurt and the lime. It was super creamy, and I think the fat in the avocado cut the chalkiness of the greek yogurt (fat free greek yogurt isn’t my favorite). I’ll definitely make this again.

Yesterday, I decided to try the Glowing Green smoothie. Dorothy swears by this one, so I knew it had to be good. I shared some with my husband and also brought one to Sara, and we were all impressed with the taste, considering the amount of greens in it.

photo 5-6

I’m almost out of peanut butter, so that’s up next. I’m so excited to use this machine every morning!

Smoothie fans, send me your fave! Vitamix owners, what else can this thing do?

Fit Club Fail

January 23, 2014 by beewhobabbles

Last Friday was the first meeting of my Fit Club and it was a total FAIL.

Let me back up- in years past, I’ve tried to make different “club” nights happen. It worked fine for actual clubbing in college, but once my circle of friends got jobs, husbands and children, it became harder to make a night out part of our routine. Enter the “club.” If it’s a club that meets monthly, you have to attend, right?

“Husband, you handle dinner and bedtime tonight, I have craft club!”

“Oh, be sure to schedule a baby-sitter, I’ve got book club.”

It sounds like a responsibility, rather than a night out with your best girlfriends, right?

To he honest, I really thought the wine club would be the one to survive, but none of our little clubs had staying power. Someone forgot to read the book, someone’s child got sick, someone made other plans…it just never became a regular occurrence.

Enter Fit Club. I rounded up my favorite workout buddies to do something we all do regularly anyway. It should have been foolproof.

Ready to shake it like a polaroid picture.

Back to last Friday night: We arrived at a local zumba/aerobics studio to try a cardio hip hop class only to find that the class didn’t start until February. I had double checked both the website and the Facebook page earlier that day so needless to say, I was not a happy hip hopper.

The owner told us that the regulars knew it hadn’t started yet…so I guess they decided not to update the schedule elsewhere. What about the January Joiners, sir? WHAT ABOUT THE FIT CLUB? I mean, really.

So our January meeting was a bust. Next up is bikram yoga. Sara, Danielle and I love hot vinyasa flow but we’ve never tried bikram. I hope it’s more successful than hip hop.

On the plus side, Sara and I had an amazing long run the following morning, which might not have happened (the amazing part. The running was a done deal) if we had danced the night prior. My pace is getting faster- I’m not doing speed work yet, just focusing on the miles- which feels wonderful. And since we aren’t running together for four days a week anymore, we have a week’s worth of topics to discuss.

Speedwork will commence following the Glass Slipper Challenge and I’ll be asking for all of your tips and tricks. In the meantime, tell me what fitness classes we should try! Any advice for bikram yoga?

Yes, You Should Be Happy I’m Wearing A Backpack

January 20, 2014 by beewhobabbles

There’s a line in Swingers that always makes me giggle.

Okay, if I’m being honest, the entire movie makes me laugh- massive, clutch-my-stomach, tears-streaming-down-my-face belly laughs. But as someone who was a teenager in the 90s, a girl who dreamed of living in Cher Horowitz’s closet, this line takes me back to that time.

“I spend half the night talking to some girl who’s looking around the room to see if there’s somebody else who’s more important she should be talking to, and it’s like I’m supposed to be all happy ’cause she’s wearing a backpack, you know?”

Because we all had backpacks. I had a mini silver one, similar to the one Cher wore when she failed her driving test. (Purchased at Contempo, of course.)

90s fashion is making a comeback- flannel, overalls, docs and backpacks. Now, as a babywearing mom, I’ve carried a backpack for a few years. Don’t get me wrong, I love my totes, but it’s a lot more comfortable to have my things on back when I have a baby on my front, rather than carrying things on one shoulder.

As a runner, I know that a backpack can help save my core from unnecessary stress. It can help me maintain good posture throughout my day. And lucky for us, there’s a lot to choose from this season. Thank you, style gods!

My current backpack is the Herschel Supply Camo-dot backpack from J.Crew. It’s kid-size, so slightly smaller and just so cute. Below are some of my other favorites at various price points. I love the floral Marc Jacobs or the striped Baggu for spring, and the Pashli is just drool-worthy. My littlest just spilled cold “hot” chocolate all over my bag during a recent trip to Target, so if it doesn’t come out, I might be on the lookout for a new bag. Oh, who are we kidding? I am always on the lookout for a new bag.