It’s not because he likes fashion…

It’s because he has no shorts that fit.

So why wouldn’t you make your own, at the park on the first really warm day of Spring?

My Father In Law

Dennis

I was taking head shots of this amazing man today for the U of M.

We took 12, then it was a wrap and THEN he made me choose the best one.

I liked this one.

3-1=2

I was at the funeral of a neighbor a few weeks ago.  It was not your typical funeral, it was a service set in a theater.

There were poems, video montages of his work, photos of his life and stories shared by those he worked with and those who loved him most.  He made a huge impact in people lives.  He gave so much of his soul and spirit to his work, to his family and to everything he did.

I knew he and his wife and his daughter were a tight knit trio, but I had no idea how close.  Every facet of their lives were intertwined.  It was as if together they were a three legged stool and one of the legs had just broken off, never to be fixed.

The pain of loss so great.

I wept as I listened.

I wept at their loss.

I wept as the raw feelings being set out before everyone slowly washed over the theater.  This person with so much talent, love and wit, was now suddenly gone.

Life will not be the same.

Tiny pieces of him remain, but it isn’t the same.

It will never be the same.

After listening and seeing and experiencing who Bob was, through the eyes of so many, I walked away from the experience filled with the hope that I may live my life in such a way, that touches so many, so profoundly.

Oh how I love this…

It makes me want to crank up some music and throw some things around.

Mikhael Paskalev – I spy from André Chocron on Vimeo.

New Installment

After stumbling upon one of KP’s collections, I’ve decided I’m creating a new category called, “Funny shit my kids do”. And by “funny”, I most certainly mean odd.

KP likes to squirrel things away. I think as the third in the line, he feels like he doesn’t own anything of his own. So when he gets something, he wants to keep it, protect it and make sure nothing happens to it.

This is sitting on his desk. The plastic covering came from a toy he got at Christmas. It houses two pottery bowls he made at school.  A snoopy figure CT made at school and a jar of jam that he got from a French restaurant.

I couldn’t tell from just looking what was in the jar, so I dismantled it to find out.

I pulled out the jar and there was an odd shaped light yellow thing inside, it almost looked like a bloated dead wax worm you would use for fishing.

I opened up the lid…ohhhhh, it’s a garlic clove with a little bit of water to keep it nice and moist!

Those Chinese teachers would be proud, they taught the kids how to grow garlic over Christmas break, however it wasn’t in a jar, in the dark, but still there was some good knowledge transfer there, right? After all, he did set the terrarium like display in the sun.

I’ll check back at Easter to give you the mold report.

The Biggest Cleanse Looser

Ok, I tried.

I failed.

I’m on the ninth day of a twelve day cleanse, the Bon Appetite Food Lovers Cleanse.  It’s really good.  The recipes are good, it’s not that stringent (I’m not a big cleanse/flush person to begin with).  My one complaint would be that the dinners take a little too long to make but besides that, even my kids were eating it.

However, all that said, I still didn’t finish it.

All was going well until Adam left town.

Yup, I will take no personal responsibility for my internal cleaning demise.  Ok, that isn’t true but to spend a substantial amount of time on cooking just for myself, seems to not be going over very well.  And to be honest, they should have never given me the “option” of a couple drinks a week or caffeine if you need it.  That just opens the door for me.

I think I might do better on the NO YOU CAN’T HAVE ANY OF THAT kind of cleanse.  Then there is no question but that sounds horrible, doesn’t it?

Off to open a bottle of wine and put coffee in the coffee maker.

Seriously?

There are times I do things that make me laugh so hard I can hardly stand it. Yeah, I find myself funny. THIS, happens to be one of them.

I was cleaning out PJ’s closet, which contained a tornado off a mess of her own things, along with all the old photos and kid’s keepsake boxes.

Kid #1, totally organized. Kid #2, half-assed collection of stuff.  Kid#3, pretty much noth’n.

Kid #3 hardly has any printed pictures.  He hardly has any stuff. He is distraught by not having a baby book and continually asks me to make him one for his 8th birthday.

But guess what, Kid #3 has something very special that I saved for him that no one else has. He is the only one I saved the positive EPT test for.

And after almost 8 years, it still shows the lines. Who wouldn’t want to find that in their box of memorabilia?

Spectacular Bitch

Peevish Mama, what can I say…if I could heist one sixteenth of her beauty, style, talent and utter coolness, I think I would be a rock star.  She is one of the people in my world that when we see each other on the rarest of occasions, I walk away thinking, damn I need to see her more.

Spectacular Bitch is her newest endeavor and she was kind enough to help me out with my inability to see beyond bike shorts.

Totally busted up

Last year’s racing season was EPIC to say the least.  It will never occur again in my lifetime.  To start the year PR’ing at Boston Marathon, sandwich four half ironman races (including the World Championships) in the middle and end with the New York City Marathon in November, was exhilarating, unbelievable, utterly ridiculous, hard, fantastic and totally awesome on so many levels.

I only have random pictures and really no blog posts to show for it. Sorry, I was on my bike, or running or maybe in a lake.

I had a plan, a two year plan of how racing was suppose to go.  The plan I set out for myself has me signed up and heading to Ironman Canada in August. Not only to head there, but to work my way towards a Kona slot.  I decided after much deliberation that this race was my best shot.  I’m already signed up and my bike even has transportation to Canada.

But today, four months after the end of that amazing ride in 2011, I’m a bit of a physical wreck.  The entire left side of my body, hips down, is not working right.  I have a hamstring that never stops hurting and has no power, a pelvis that is utterly wonky, the back of my knee is so tight it feels like there is a tight wad of cotton stuck in the joint and my calf hurts when I run.  My PTs have me relegated to the pool, aqua jogging and swimming but only with a pull buoy (my arms are going to be so fierce) in hopes of keeping my pelvis in alignment for just one week.  Everyone thinks this all stems from my pelvis.

Being a person who likes control and who doesn’t like the fact that her two year plan is not going according to plan, I’m trying to remain calm.  It feels dire, unfixable, possibly impossible. If it IS possible, at what cost?  I can’t defer the race to next year.

While having a pity party earlier in the week I told my friend that this is a pretty hard fall from grace.  Her response, “Don’t worry, it’s going to be ok, you’re just on a grace hiatus.”

I think I’m going to try that on and see how it feels for a while…a Grace Hiatus.

Editing Life

Sometimes life gets so busy things fall by the wayside, tip off the edge and go rolling nowhere fast.

Last year, due to kids and work and training, I took a good look at a few things and had to purposefully cut them out or say no.  I’ve learned to say no, to let things slide and to, what I call, Edit My Life.

Every Wednesday my calendar reminds me that I have to go teach swimming lessons.  I left this job, that I did not particularly enjoy but it gave me things I needed in regards to training.

One day, one of my new revolving bosses came up to me and said I was going to have to teach more in order for them to keep me on staff.  I told them I couldn’t give them anymore, they kept asking and I kept saying no.  They wouldn’t keep me on for a few lessons a week no matter how many mommies and kids liked me, and they let me go.

Not having that job has been one of the best edits that has taken place.  I keep it on my calendar as a reminder to me to stay true to what I want to do, give of my time wisely and give where it’s important.

Every Wednesday when my reminder pops up, I smile and a think, I am so glad I made that choice.