First Race

Triathlon season got kicked off this past Sunday in Buffalo. After the wicked storm passed on Saturday afternoon, the sun shone brightly and made for an amazing day.

This is my fourth year doing triathlons and this race was by far the best, not due to my race times (4th in my age group) or my efforts but because I got to share the day with friends. Some of those friends were doing triathlons for their first time and other experienced pros were gunning for whatever their bodies had in store for them that very day.

Here they are:

This is Courtney. I love Courtney, she plays so coy and then just busts it out of the park. She is an amazing marathon runner (Boston bound mind you), 1/2 iron competitor, friend and mother.

Say Hi to Nathan. This was Nathan’s first tri with two more cued up for the summer. Considering he hadn’t been in the lake for more than a total of 10 minutes the day before the race and he had some seriously locked up calf muscles he made his way through the race and finished strong with a smile on his face. Way to go Nate!

Meet Todd. He’s one of the girl’s in my running group but funny enough he won’t wear a skirt. He too was embarking on his virgin tri tour this past weekend and now he’s bit. His deck is stacked this summer with a marathon and olympic distance race and a 1/2 iron race while on vacation (yes, while on vacation). Excellent job T.

This is jMatt (or Fast Matt as I call him). I had to take a picture of him while he was standing still and suiting up becasue he is so unbelievably fast that my camera can’t ever catch a clear image of him. He is on his way to “take” many races this season as well as marching his way to Ironman Wisconsin in September. Catch him if you can. Nice work jMatt and good luck this season.

Thanks to all of you for making this day so great!

Job well done.

Touch down in Minnie

It was short, but it was sweet. My morning was spent with my lovely friend Anne Marie (in from Boston), sweet Baby H and a few other gal pals over coffee and chatting and cooing.

Eight years ago Anne Marie got all of her Minneapolis friend’s together with their new born babies and kicked off what ended up being a playgroup that just disbanded this year.

And now, after all the stories, time and tears that Anne Marie has endured with me, I am so thrilled to watch as she grows into an amazing mother.

Thank you for sharing that delectably luscious little baby boy with us today.

What a weekend…

Friday:

Ears

Birthday dinner out with jewels from Erika.

Saturday:
First Communion #1

The Spring Sheering

First Communion #2

Sunday:

Half Marathon

PJ’s 6th Birthday Party

And then…and then I slept really well.  Only to be woken up by PJ’s new hamster in the middle of the night running and running and running on it’s little squeaky wheel FOR HOURS.

The story of the hamster to come later.

Cash kid style

Back in the dead of winter when I was visiting my friend Anne Marie and her family in Boston, they had this great Johnny Cash CD that played in baby H’s room.

This same CD has been playing in our car for MONTHS and MONTHS and MONTHS. I can attest that it is one of the most wonderful children’s CD’s out there, if you like Johnny Cash that is. He doesn’t pull any punches by being cutesy, he is straight up Johnny. And, you get a little love from June too.

CT just asked yesterday if he could bring the CD to school and sing one of the songs for a talent show. If that isn’t a glowing endorsement, I don’t know what is.

Not slutty by nature

I am not one who likes to go to dress up parties. As a matter of fact, I don’t even like Halloween all that much.

That said, we just went to our friend Lars’ 40th birthday party. He’s British, so the theme was Come As Your Favorite Brit. After my long deep breath and several searches on line for famous British people, there were several I thought I might be able to pull off:  The Queen, Margaret Thatcher, one of The Beatles or maybe even Mick Jagger (I do have the mouth). Adam suggested crash car Diana, which I LOVED, but it felt a little too wrong to pull off but still a stellar idea.

I have only had two successful encounters with dressing up as someone else. The first is when I went as Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction. I wish I had a picture because it was fierce! I had the hair, the white shirt, the pants and the srynge sticking out of my chest. Now that was fun.

Last weekend I chose someone I hadn’t even heard of. Funny enough my 73 year old dad asked me who I was going as and when I said, “Some woman named Amy Winehouse.” His response was, “Oh that singing drug addict slut?”

And some how with George Micheal at my side, it got pulled off and was actually fun. Just don’t make me do it for another 7 years.

The Death Party

A few of my girlfriend’s and I are taking our annual Girl’s Get-A-Way this weekend. I so look forward to this weekend all year long. We drive up to my friend’s cabin that is about 3 hours away and just read, talk, drink wine, play cards and try not to get lightheaded and faint from standing up to fast after sitting on the couch for too long.

One of the best parts of leaving town is seeing what Jen has planned to do with her kids the day before she leaves. You see, every time she leaves town, she makes sure everything in her life is in order and then spends one last wonderful day with her children so they would at least have one last fond memory of her if she suddenly got scrubbed off the face of the planet.

On our trip to Boston together we came up with a term for this “excersise” that she puts herself through before every trip. We fondly call it The Death Party.

She told me over coffee today that she was taking her kids skiing tomorrow. I asked her if that was all she was doing for The Death Party this trip and she said, “We’ll yeah and I don’t get as worried driving someplace as I do flying.”

And as her best friend, I did have to make it clear to her that it is MUCH MORE LIKELY that we get killed in a car accident than it would be going down in a fiery plane crash. That’s what good friends are for, right?

Race #1…done!

13.1 Finished!

Originally uploaded by sellke

Cheers to Erika and Todd for finishing their first 1/2 marathon! And Courtney, thanks for joining in the fun.

Running is so much more fun with all of you guys around.

Who have you helped get published today?

Have you ever written a book or gotten an article published?  I haven’t.  And until I meet Aimee, I had no idea what the process of book writing even looked like.  

As an avid reader, I just enjoyed books and never even thought about the process behind creating characters, themes, images, subtext, putting it all together, making it all work, then rewriting bits and pieces over and over and over until the “work” really comes together.  It’s an amazing process to learn about. And once all the pieces are in place, then you try to get it published.  

And that my friend’s is were you come in.  

In October, Aimee entered her novel manuscript BEING GOOD ABOUT IT in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Competition and has made it to the Semi-Finalist Round.  Penguin editors will now select the 100 Finalists, and one of those will receive a standard publishing contract.

BUT, PEOPLE NEED TO WRITE REVIEWS!  

So please…take a few moments to download and read the excerpt from her book, then just go to the bottom of the page and click on “Create your own review” and write away. 

Thanks for your help and enjoy the story, you won’t be disappointed!

Sweet little baby

This past weekend Jen and I were given a three day Stay at Home Mommy Pass.  We left our six kids, two husbands, three cats and two fish behind so we could fly to Boston to meet, in person, Anne Marie and JP’s new sweet little wonder kin…Baby H. 

I’m not allowed to slather the internet with pictures of the most adorable and intelligent child on the plant yet, but soon I am sure, I’ll keep you posted.

It was one of those weekends that fills you up.  One of those moments in time that you cherish because they are so few and far between.  One of those times where friends catch up, sit back, share, and enjoy the new little wonder that is suddenly there sharing your home, your space and every waking moment.

I forgot what that stage looks and feels like.  The sweet smell, the tiniest of noises and squeaks and sighs, the weight and warmth of a sleeping little one that looks so angelic and innocent. At that stage anything at all is possible, dreams are being built and his future is being visualized while his parents gaze into his blue eyes.

And oh yeah…I forgot about the sleepless nights, the questioning and the not knowing what to do next.

How fast the “baby fears” fade and how quickly the new family becomes an agile unit making its very own way down the path of life.

Welcome to the world H, you are one lucky little man.

Sing it loud & proud

Here is PJ’s friend and classmate.  Chinese has never sounded so cute.