"You Can Have Both, Mommy."

Kids, man. They are the absolute best source of practical wisdom, and Sydni is no exception.

Tonight I was reminded by two very simple moments that this is a beautiful, albeit chaotic little life we live. We have so many liberties that we take for granted, and she managed to remind me in ways she won't recognize until years from now, that I have it made.

First, this:

nutella + graham crackers... minion graham crackers

Kids have the most reactive metabolisms, especially if they're regularly healthy like Sydni. She plowed through a quarter of a box of minion graham crackers and spoonfuls of Nutella to go along, more than a "snack" portion, but without ruining her dinner. The kid usually makes healthy choices on her own, but we happened to be out of grapes and apples today, so I took the blame and gave in to her cravings for this... just once, yenno? ;) 

Anyway, the mini feeding frenzy passed without much further attention, and an hour later I heard the familiar whirring of the elliptical in the basement, so I went down to check on her. I kid you not, Sydni went hard on this thing for at least 30 minutes straight, until I told her to take a little break. I asked her, jokingly, if she was training to get big and strong and fast so she could outrun Mommy, to which she whimsically replied, "Nope. I'm essercising because I just ate a whole bunch of crackers and nutella."

Now, before anyone jumps to conclusions about how my daughter perhaps believes that you must push yourself to physical limits every single time you eat [or any other unhealthy psychological deliverance], she doesn't. She has never [amen, amen, AMEN] cared what she ate, knows that the Disney girls look "weird" with their unrealistically-proportioned bodies, and doesn't usually tell me she's using the elliptical for the same reasons an adult uses the elliptical. Haha. No. She's 5, and it was perfectly in line with her goofy little personality for her to say that. What she has learned in our house is that exercise is good, and that if you do it, you will stay healthy and be able to do all the things you want to do: swimming, running around, playing tag, etc. That was long-winded, but I just don't want anyone out there to mistake this as a reflection that we hang around teaching her that she'll get fat if she doesn't work out. We're all about healthy and happy in this house, not just one or the other ♥ 

Thank you, though, mini-me, for reminding me that there's balance to this. It might not make sense to you yet, and I absolutely read into these two simple things tonight, but it struck me as a subtle little note to be aware of balancing out - whatever it is, be sure to get all that I need, not just one side of something. You're such a great little teacher, mini! 

"You can have both, Mommy."
Yep, we can. We can have work and play. Fun and responsibility. Plans and free time. 

Duh! 

xo | cmd

I'm a Gaiam Girl.

I told ya'll I'd have an udpate on the balance ball chair thing.

Welp... today I went for it and traded my office chair for a Gaiam balance chair. I was a little skeptical at first, but I'm pretty much in love with this thing now and I wonder why I waited so long.

Last week I switched my primary seating to an exercise ball, which I swapped with my regular chair only for interviews.

[i posted this last week]

Today I did my first couple of interviews atop this thing, and after throwing a sherpa blanket across the whole thing, only one person really even noticed it was that different from a standard chair.


yessssss

You can't really see it there, but this thing has a wheeled base and detachable balance ball. I don't feel like I'm sitting on the floor, either, which is great. Now all I need is a cover, and I've got my eye on a couple.. including this one: 

love. this.

My only problem is that I can't justify spending almost $45 on the cover for the ball that, along with the chair base didn't even cost half of that. There are other options.. so I'll keep ya posted ;)

I'm at home now, feeling pretty good about this new little perch I've got. Rob, Sydni and I just finished eating dinner and it's time now to watch Frozen for the umpteenth time for family movie night and get ready for tomorrow. The weekend is in sight... almost.. almost!

xo | cmd

Balance Balls & Super Sushi

Call me over-the-top this year, but I'm bent on getting back in shape for 2014. I didn't make it a resolution or anything for the new year, but I'm finding that with every day, I'm becoming more and more interested again in the things I've always loved. This goes alllll the way back to the healing process that is still happening to me, from the inside out. Where I used to just feel defeated and dull, I now feel excited and determined. Whole-body fitness is on the list of things I'm controlling this year (:

And that means integrating little things into my daily life. I work in an office, which very easily becomes a gateway to a sedentary 8-to-5 for a lot of people, myself included some days. Sure, I'm up and down enough throughout the day that it doesn't always seem that way, but every once in a while, I'll catch myself with both feet tucked up under me on my chair, hunched over whatever email or proposal I'm absorbing.

Yesterday I paused for a moment and realized that I was essentially a circle with my desk. 

this will not be me!

.... No good. My spine probably hates me.

Wellll... in a spontaneous decision while out to get Sydni a pair of shoes, I wound up at the check-out with a balance ball in hand as well. I plan to mount this on a base, but I don't have that yet, so for now, the ball it is. 

ball replaces chair.. hmm..

It's definitely an interesting seat to have; I've decided I definitely need the base as well, since the ball itself isn't really tall enough to accomodate the rest of my desk. Either way, I sat perched on this thing for the last half of today and I can already feel the difference.

As I was bouncing through the latter half of my work day, Rob texted me to see if I had interest in trying out a sushi place down the road from us. Sushi is pretty much a rhetorical question for the two of us, so after work, off to Beechmont it was for some edamame, sushi, pad thai and fried rice. 


great date. super sushi.
winnnniiinnnngggggg.... (:

We're stuffed. We have leftovers, even, which is way unusual for us at a Thai place.

And heyyyyyy, it's the WEEKEND!
Sleeping in tomorrow.... I cannot wait..
... it's the small things (:

xo | cmd

Superbowl Shenanigans

We started off the day with our weekly dose of SonRise message, which, as always, was entirely applicable to the every day decisions and lives we live. That church is really growing on me, and I'm pretty excited to see how we can involve ourselves as the year moves on.

After church, we took off on a short journey to check out the drive time to Rob's new work! He starts tomorrow, and since his work is a block from one of my old soccer hangouts, I helped out with the navigation and we were there in no time. From there, it was breakfast at First Watch and some furniture shopping before we headed back home.

I left Rob to unwind for a little bit while Sydni and I tackled the weekly grocery list. Once that was out of the way, it was back home for some quick R&R before we loaded right back up to head over to Brittany's for the superbowl.

And no... in case you're wondering... no. No, we didn't really care who won the Superbowl. I wasn't that vested into either team this year, and although I do like Peyton Manning, I'll go ahead and admit that the final score didn't phase me all that much.

I wasn't alone. Sydni quickly made friends with Daisy, Brittany's dog.

syd & daisy ♥

such a sweet pup!

While she was doing that, we took to our usual get-together habits of finding other ways to entertain ourselves:

planks on planks on planks

First it was planks. We got comfortable after that and launched into a pyramid..

pyramid problems

And how do you properly finish a gameday basement workout?
Wall sits. The answer is wall sits.... apparently.

just.... yeah.

All the physical activity aside, we finally squeezed in some "normal" pictures for the albums. (:

adore this.

^^ Go ahead, get all your Charlie's Angels jokes out of the way. Beth's hair really isn't that red, but aside from that yes, we know we could easily pull this off for Halloween. And of course, the mini photo-bomber, who is clearly learning that art from me, but it's ok ;)

my absolute favorites.

^ My little family. We are a tiny bunch comprised of very different walks, but we're all together now, in the same city, under the same roof.... together. I sat back tonight after we got home and let myself be reminded how blessed I am to have the friends and family that I do.

Oh, and for all you Broncos fans out there : Reaaaally sorry about the game.. I hope you at least enjoyed the commercials! (:

xo | cmd

What a PITTIEful Day ♥

As I woke up halfway late and rushed around my house, I was met with these adorable, pleading little faces. I couldn't help but pause and take a picture before I left them for the day:


"hiya mom.. so about this whole... you-leaving-for-work-AGAIN thing..."
♥ #sashapittie & #stellapittie ♥

I managed today to make it out to the BMV [always a knot in the gut whenever that has to be done] to stand in line and transfer my plates to the Subie. It's official; little Subes is now a legal beagle on the streets! I'll get some new pics up of the little thing as soon as this weather clears up and I can get the BeOhioProud sticker on the back, too ;)

After work, it was leg day at the gym; I feel like a noodle from the waist down right now, so that means soreness tomorrow but above all a successful workout! Dinner = something quick, because honestly I was a little whipped after today. That didn't stop it from being delicious [chicken, red potatoes & zucchini!] Yummmm!

dinnner tiiiiime (:

And then... because it only seemed natural to end the day where it started, I caught the pups showing off their personalities right before bedtime. Stella, the stoic, talkative one on the floor, and Sasha, the forever kid up on the bed. In the absence of Rob & Sydni, these two definitely put a goodnight smile on my face.
I'll leave today at that!

Gooooodnight!

xo | cmd

NAMASTE

It's been a little while since I found a gray hair on my head. I'm not complaining; honestly, I'm completely open to the black mambas transforming into their silver state, but perhaps just not yet. I so rarely spot one, but I did today, and wasn't really that surprised.

The past couple of days have been a little... challenging... to put it lightly. It's not a product of daily elements [which can certainly trigger elevated stress levels; let's be honest], but a targeted source - the same source - that's been a generator of duress for me. I'm discontent with the fact that I struggle so much to control my anxiety levels when it comes to this, but I am happy to report that I'm working on it and have been improving.

Of course, that doesn't mean there won't be setbacks. I call them emotional relapses.
I've recently started exploring the world of yoga, and might I just say that it is not the class I took once at UC, in which I literally fell asleep. On my mat. In the middle of the class.

Nope. This is the real deal, folks. Yoga junkies everywhere just rolled their eyes and called me a newb... I'm cool with that. I discovered Rachel Brathen, a homeless woman turned yoga-extraordinaire [thanks, Elisa!] This chick is hardcore when it comes to yoga; I'm all about strength training and I think she's got this yoga thing down pretty good. Find her on Instagram; some of her best videos are there [I think, at least!]

Beast mode. I will get there. It might take me a little while, but I'll get there.
Challenge accepted.

Meanwhile, the office workouts are going well, too. This will be the first full week of these; I'm interested to compare how I feel now with how I'll feel at this time three weeks from now, after continuing this every day. It's an accompanying element to cardio and regular circuit training, but it's only Tuesday and I can already tell a small difference.

Woo!
Here's some more RB for motivation:

namaste! | rachel brathen

Breathe in... breathe out... (:

xo | cmd

A Is For ATHLETES

I spent the majority of my evening tackling some dirty laundry and doing some minor repairs to a few pieces of jewelry I've been neglecting for way too long. As my audio-visual soundtrack, I opted for some coverage of the Crossfit games, then the women's national team [soccer] match-up against Australia.

This reminds me how dastardly stagnant I've been in my workout efforts. It's been a few weeks, literally, since I've been over to Gold's, a lackadaisical string for which I really have no good excuse other than the easily-refutable one involving work and parenting... and all that.

I used some much-needed inspiration from The Voice over the last two weeks to dig some into my vocal side, and after tonight, I'm reminded that I need to start being a little more intentional about sanctioning off some fit time.

Consider it done.

crossfit | marcus hendren
lol.. went with this one bc i'm from ohio and that's
how we do it.. in the country... in ohio.

First of all, it's a terribly small world sometimes. Haha. As I was watching the Crossfit games, there was one little bio segment on Marcus Hendren that I nearly overlooked until I thought I recognized some of the background from his "home life" clips. I dismissed that too, until he said he was from Johnstown, OH. [Aw! Mini shouts to Jen & Laney, my two obviously favorite natives of J-Town... ♥]. My cousin Jeremy coaches at a CF in PA, and I know a few other people who've adopted the CF lifestyle. [No, I don't know Marcus Hendren] Pretty random, either way.


And pretty BEAST, too. I wouldn't cut it for 10 minutes on the circuits they run. Not anymore anyway.
I don't think I like that feeling.
Hrm. [Food for thought].

Anyway, once Crossfit was done, it was on to the US v. Aussie game.

remember them?? oh man.. i'm getting old. :( 

I've been impressed so far with the womens' post-Olympic victory tour, but tonight was the last game for coach Pia Sundhage. It makes me feel old realizing that I've even just watched her coach for the last several years. I still remember when Mia Hamm finally hung her boots up and I remember when Brianna Scurry left. I remember watching Abby Wambach play years ago, and after watching her snag a couple more goals tonight, I'm fairly certain I'll make sure Sydni has clips of her legacy to watch one day too. That doesn't even count Hope Solo & Alex Morgan. *Sigh.

solo. morgan. wambach
a true definition of women empowered. :) 

The US bounced back from a 2-1 trail to win it 6-2 over the Aussies. By far a great game to watch. I think I could live vicariously through the womens' national team for a very long time. That would be fine, right? ;)

It's midweek already - hard to believe.
Oh, and I'm in the midst of dress shopping for Friesy's wedding. Talk about first world stressers. Haha.

It's a good week so far. I hope yours is going well, too!
[Anyone wanna go for a little jog? No? Ok, well first thing tomorrow then.]

xo | cmd

[This is] INSANITY.

INSANITY, meet Cori.

INSANITY

Day 1: Done.

Holy cow.

I'll keep you posted.

xo | cmd