Book Character Day

AKA: how to let kids wear costumes to school at Halloween without allowing them to dress like scary things...

I'm the very ugly bug!

Post 1,000

This is my 1,000th post on my blog!

A Great Food Critic

Have you ever wondered what a NC Marriage and Family Therspist license tastes like?

Well, this guy can tell you...

Mostly, it just tastes like paper.*

*For those of you reading this who suffer from anxiety- have no fear, a new license is on the way!

Kids Just Know

We have a cat at school that sits outside the door like this every day at the same time. 

I asked my students what we should name him, to which they replied "Jimmy"!  

Well, OK, then. 

That's the perfect name for this cat.

Soup

For when elementary schoolers cough, sneeze, hug, and touch you all day every day. 

Twinsies

I mean, we're basically the same person.

Wise words on Contentment

"If you try to pursue happiness, you will miss it because the search for happiness will cause discontent. Searching is bound to create turbulence within. A turbulent mind is an unhappy mind. Your search for happiness is always in the future, it is never in the present. The future is outside; the present is within. Bliss awaits you within." -Amma (Mata Amritanandamayi)

Running Career Back on Track

You can't imagine how good it feels to run a half marathon in your hometown on a beautiful, sunny Sunday morning in October after you haven't done a race in over year, especially after you only ran 8.8 miles for your longest training run.

It feels pretty great.

This was such a spectacular race. I might even say best half marathon ever. Not only was it fun and lovely and all that, but it was extremely well organized. I'd definitely do it again. Maybe I'll even make it an annual thing.

Lucky Number 1108

About to cross the finish line with Lena

Clock time 2:24:21, Chip Time 2:21:03

We did it!

Yay! I'm back!

Next up, an old favorite: The Gallop N' Gorge 8k for Thanksgiving!

I love this guy

Just watch them all right now.

Preferably while drinking a giant glass of wine.

Communication

The only way I see my husband these days.

My jokes aren't as funny via Facetime.

I'd like to think this is what Jay-Z and Beyonce do when B is on tour.

So, yeah, it's pretty much like I'm Beyonce.

Linda's

Or "the place where we used to get drunk on cheap beer in college and then again in grad school".

It's still very much the same.

It us us who are different because now we drink cheap wine instead of cheap beer and get called "mam".

We're so mature.

And this guy comes along:

Love them.

You know you're an adult when...

you prefer dark chocolate M&Ms to the regular kind.

But I still only eat the green ones

Just passing through

I love having visitors! It gives me the opportunity to utilize our guest room, lay out clean towels, and go out on a school night showing the things to show.

Last weekend, I got the opportunity to host these lil' ladies who were passing through NC on their cross country road trip from Oregon.  They are 24 and shiny...just wee babes trying to figure out what to do with their lives. Hearing about their trip reminds me of the Trinity road trip that Bekah and Carrie and I took all so long ago...

These lil' sunflowers

And speaking of Bekah...Thursday I get to host her and her manfriend as they make their way to Bekah's bro's wedding.

Cheers, guys! Cant wait to see you!

Yay for passing through and crashing on our guest bed!

I Never Learn...Or Do I?

When will I ever learn that extremism in any form is just no good? I've mentioned this several times before, most recently when I tried to do a juice cleanse this summer and felt like shit.
Well, this time I got it in my head that I would try to be paleo.

See here. Extremism at it best.

Basically, if you are Paleo you can only eat meat and vegetables. No grains, no alcohol, no sugar, no legumes. Not even rice, you guys.  My plan was to try this way of eating hardcore (i.e.- super strict for real real) for a month, and then return to a more balanced way of approaching food. Well, today is would-be Day 30 and  I can tell you that this whole thing barely lasted a week. I was drinking wine by Day 3, eating rice by Day 10, and I even ate a mini Twix on a particularly stressful day last week circa Day 25.  Normally I am a very healthy eater with the occasional indulgence of a biscuit, a cookie or some mac and cheese, so why would I do this to myself? Maybe it is the thrill of trying to do a new thing. Maybe I like to think I can impose some rigidity in my life. Maybe I like the feeling of breaking the rules, once I stop doing the rigid thing. Or maybe I'm supposed to keep falling off of the metaphorical wagon, so that I eventually learn the lesson that we don't need to be on wagons in the first place.

Like I said, I just never learn. It might even take 2 or 3 more fad "healthy" diet trends for me to remember that I learned this or never learned it. However, I'd like to suppose  that the "not learning" is really a part of the learning process. Trying new things, liking them or not liking them; it's a part of the journey to balance, moderation, and eventually contentment.

We live in a society that promotes extremism in myriad ways: in our jobs, in our play time, in our entertainment, and especially in our consumer habits. We're encouraged to go hard in almost everything that we do. What if instead we were encouraged to cultivate balance?

Yay!

Today there are 2 things about which to say "yay":

1) The sun is back! See, you can see it right over those trees there. Carrboro has the best view. After over a week of Juaquin torturing us with PNW like rain, I'm ready to see he sun and its here!

2) More importantly, Jason is an officially licensed LMFT in the state of NC! Yay! Now he just needs to get here. Like, now.

Aye aye

Oh dear, I've done it again. That thing where I get really busy and don't blog for a while even though there's plenty of things to blog about and not blogging makes the not blogging even more of a big deal. And now I've blogged about not blogging which then draws attention to the not blogging. So there. Now I've blogged.