Snaps From The Long Weekend

 Over the weekend Penny helped me decorate the outside of the house for fall.

We made a scarecrow. I rested the pumpkin on top of his shirt for a head, but overnight it rolled off his neck, down the driveway and across the road. I assumed some neighborhood kid had stolen it and smashed it, but alas my pumpkin just rolled away on it's own accord. 

Charlie and I did trail work. Sometimes on the weekends I wait until he gets dressed and then purposefully put on a matching outfit because I think it's funny. We wore the same sweatshirt that we both got for finishing the marathon last year, and our Carhart vests that we got for Christmas two years ago. 

Had pizza and beer at Schillings in Littleton. I was expecting a dumpy town but it was so cute and busy. 

 Dug up a bunch of blubs, and then planted other bulbs. It seemed counter intuitive, but I did it anyways.

Went hiking and picked out a Christmas tree. I swear this was Charlie's idea. You pick on you want and decorate it then go back and cut it down, you know, after HalloweenThanksgiving.

Harvested sweet pea pods. This was one thing I grew this summer that actually did really well. Hopefully I'll be able to use the seeds to grow even better sweet peas next year. 

Enjoyed cider donuts, hot cider and a game of checkers at the new and improved Cardigan Mountain Country Store. 

Took the dogs for lots of walks and runs. This walk involved a covered bridge which neither minded, and a wire suspension bridge, which both dogs hated. It was pretty funny watching them walk across it. It was the only time all weekend Blaze didn't tug on his leash.

I wish every weekend was a three day weekend.

Lauren

Trail Race Success

The race this weekend went great. Thanks for your music recommendations friends. It was a 14 mile trail race, which involved climbing up a mountain and then running back down. I ended up beating my time last year by almost 20 minutes! I still can't believe it myself. In trying to think about the reasons I ran so much faster I have multiple variables that played in my favor.

1. New shoes. Last year I was wearing Saucony's and they were literally shredding my feet to bits. I did this race as a training run for the marathon I did in November and got really bad blisters. Then like an idiot I kept running in the same shoes for two more months. I wrapped my toes in band aids, wore different socks, but never actually changed my shoes. Dumb Lauren. In April I bought a pair of Hoka's. They look like clown shoes but honestly feel like running on clouds so I don't care how dumb I look in them, and I don't care if my friends make fun of me. I had one tiny blister after this race, but nothing compared to last year. I also think the blister was due to the wet conditions of the race, not the shoes. They are much wider which always makes it easier to run on uneven trails. I love these shoes. 
2. New Socks. A few people recommended Injingi socks after hearing about my blisters and they worked well. I only wear them for long runs because I hate putting them on, and also only have two pair.
3. Losing weight. This seems like a touchy subject and something not a lot of people talk about, but I think it's worth mentioning. Since last years race I have lost weight. Not having to carry around the extra pounds for 14 miles was excellent and definitely made me faster. 
4. Eating right. Another touchy subject, but here goes. I mentioned it in the spring back when I started eating healthier, but I have at least attempted to continue the momentum from that. I have stopped eating gluten, because I figured out through elimination that it was making me sick. I also have not been eating a whole lot of dairy, I did let myself eat ice cream this summer, because I love it, but I am not drinking gallons upon gallons of milk anymore.  I now tend to eat a lot of eggs, meat, vegetables and fruit. Since going gluten free I have been trying to do some gluten free baking, because I actually like baking (and have a huge sweet tooth) so I've been making cornbread and cookies, but trying to limit it to only weekends. 
5. Cross training/ Crossfit. I have not mentioned this here yet but I have been going to a crossfit class since February. It's an exercise class that mixes cardio with weight lifting and strength training. After the marathon I pretty much took 3 months off or running (and most exercising) so when February rolled around I felt quite sloth-ish. I contemplated joining a yoga class, but then Charlie said he would do a crossfit class with me so we both joined. He has since stopped going to focus more on running, but I have continued to go. I was initially worried I'd start looking like a body builder but that has not happened, and I really don't think it will. The classes are always fun; what really keeps me coming back though is the people. I like running, but it's a very solitary activity for me. At crossfit there are lots of people around to inspire and motivate you. I would never do these exercises if there wasn't someone there to help me do it or to inspire me. Everyone is very nice and I love the energy. It reminds me of diving practice, doing fun but difficult things and having people cheer for you when you do well, and cheering for others as well. I like the team mentality of it, even though it's mostly individual. We also do a ton of squats, which have made my legs much stronger. I felt stronger climbing up the mountain on Sunday. My legs didn't burn, as much, as last year, and I felt less winded.
6. Running less/no burn out. Last year I was running 6-7 days a week. I was running at cross country practice (slowly) then running on the days off to make up for the slow running or to get a long run in for training. This year I only ran 3 days a week. One short, one medium and one long run. I didn't ever feel sick of running or think to myself "ugh I don't want to do this." Well, I did say I didn't want to do it a few times but only because it was raining or I had to wake up earlier. I am also not coaching this year which has been fantastic. I finally came to two very important realizations. First is that if you like doing something it doesn't mean you will like coaching people to do that something. I kept feeling like I was doing something wrong for not liking coaching, and that if I didn't like coaching it must mean I didn't like running. But that's not true. Second was that I can say "no" to things I don't want to do. I didn't like it for multiple reasons, I tried my best, but ultimately I just didn't want to so I didn't. 
7. Music. I mentioned this before but running with music really makes me go faster. I only had fast/upbeat songs on my ipod on Sunday and all the songs pumped me up and made me really enjoy running. I also think it helped the time go by faster. 
8. Actually Stretching. People are right, you should stretch before you do do any kind of physical activity. I don't know why I took so long to figure this out. I do dynamic stretching. 
9. Confidence. I talked myself up, before the race and during. I knew what my goal time was and kept reminding myself to keep up the pace in order to finish by that time, and kept reminding myself that I could finish in that time. 

I also think my galaxy running capris helped me run fast. Or at least made me think of funny space puns while running. I'll spare you. 

Charlie and I have already signed up for another trails race in November. It's not a marathon though, only 11 miles. If I ever say anything about signing up for a marathon again please knock some sense into me. 

Lauren 

Summer Bucket List: What Actually Happened

I figured since school started today and summer is unofficially over for me I'd see what on my wish list got done. 

1. Pick strawberries.- Yes! Thank you Liz. 
2. Hike to the top of the logging road 4 times. - Only twice. Once for sunrise. 
3. Swim, swim, swim. - Yes! And should I add, I did not get swimmers ear once due to my obsessive use of rubbing alcohol post swimming adventures. 
4. Wear sunscreen everyday and not get sunburned once. - Almost! I got a bit of a sunburn on one tiny speck of skin that I missed. 
5. Go to concerts. - Totally! Four of em. And another next week. 
6. Hike a 4,000 footer and not cry. - No. Didn't even try. 
7. Host a Summer party. - Yes! It was so fun. 16 people spent the night, including three hilarious children. 
8. Finally figure out what poison ivy looks like and not touch it. - Kind of, I think I have a good idea, and I did not get it once. 
9. Eat fresh veggies from the garden. - Ha! I've eaten about 4 peas, and five tomatoes from the "garden". 
10. Hold a baby. (I'm looking at you Liz!) - Yes! I need more baby snuggling, now I am looking at you Jaclyn! 
11. Go to a yard sale. - Yes! I went to one early in the summer that was a bust. Don't you feel super weird when you go to a yard sale and look around and you're the only person there and everything is crap so you try to stay longer to make the people not feel bad that you assessed all of their for sale items as junk within seconds of seeing it. The second one I went to was much better. I got a kerosene lamp (thanks Dad) and a wooden elephant statue. 
12. Write my Mum one snail mail letter a week. - Almost. Some post cards. 
13. Float the Saco with Sammy and Keith. - Yes! Is it bad that I had more fun blowing up the floats in the driveway and laughing from oxygen depletion than floating the river though?
14. Sew a pair of shorts.- Yep! Two actually. 
15. Have fresh flowers in the house. - Yes! I was hoping there would be more flowers from my garden, but alas most were from the farm stand. Still pretty. 
16. Eat dinner on the deck. - Totally rocked this one. Comfy chairs, good weather,a beautiful view, a nice table, and wonderful company made eating outside so delightful. 
17. Read five books. - Still working on it. I've read 3 totally through. Reading 3 at the moment. Oy. I started several books but couldn't get into them. 
18. Make popsicles. - Yes, but they tasted like crap because there was no sugar added to them.
19. Go to concerts. - Jaimie said I was so excited about my concert going that I added it twice. 5 concerts guys! 
20. Learn to use the grill. - Um, no. That would just have lead to us going out to eat I am sure. 
21. String lights over the deck for summer ambiance. - No. It doesn't get dark until 9! I am in bed then. No need for lights. 
22. Tackle the list of home projects we have on the fridge. - Yes! The list accidentally got thrown away but I think we tackled everything. 
23. Spend a few days "tech free." -Eh. Kind of. Like 3/4 of a day. 
24. Make fruity drinks. - Yep! 
25. Play frisbee golf. - Watched people play frisbee golf. I need to remember that I hate playing yard games. 
26. See "The Fault In Our Stars". - Yes! Again thank you Liz. I wouldn't have done half of this stuff without your help! At one point I think all 6 people in the theater were crying except the 4 week old baby we brought! 
27. Make friendship bracelets. - Yes! For myself, and I love them! Something tells me making your own friendship bracelets is really un-cool. 
28. Have fires in the fire pit. - One! 
29. Go to five NH State Parks. -None! I did go to two National Parks though. 
30.  Visit farmer's market.- Yes! But only twice. 

I think the biggest thing I learned in looking over this list is that it's hard to do fun things around your house when you are not really home very much. We were gone almost every weekend, and for a few week long stretches over vacation. I am looking forward to spending some time relaxing at our house instead of coming home with lots to get done before we rush off to the next event. I am really going to also try to enjoy fall instead of hating it, which is what I've been doing for the last 25 years. 

Anything you wished you'd done this summer but didn't get to?

Lauren 

Baby Sewing

My friend had a baby and last week I had the chance to go to Washington to visit with them and I sewed up a storm during nap times and in between snuggling the little one.

I haven't bought any patterns and have been using Pinterest exclusively for patterns/tutorials. It's been pretty successful thus far. Here is my run down.

Itty Bitty Dress: Rae was not lying when she said it was itty bitty. I sewed it in an afternoon, it was super simple. I even made it reversible. Then we tried it on the baby and it hardly fit. She looked visibly uncomfortable and was crying so we took it off. It was quite humorous. She is growing so fast! I figure the dress will fit a little doll. If you make this dress either size it up, or make it for the baby to wear home from the hospital. I also think making it reversible helped the sizing issue. It is awfully cute and easy. I'd make another, but in a bigger size. Lorelei hung the dress on a mini hanger in the baby's room for decoration.

Baby Bibs: I didn't use a pattern, I just traced a preexisting bib. I hate sewing snaps so I used velcro. Worked well, and I sewed these in no time at all.

Baby Car Seat Blanket: This was pretty easy to sew as well. I didn't add the hood so it could fit a little baby and a bigger baby. I really like the color combinations, and realized that I had bought this same pattern in cotton for an apron a year or so ago. Very easy to follow tutorial, I approve.

Quick Change Trousers: Am I the only one who laughs when someone says trousers? It sounds like such an old fashioned word, like slacks. These are from the book Handmade Beginnings. The pattern says to make the pants reversible but I didn't have enough coordinating fabric, so they're only one sided. But they are pretty cute.

 That's the sewing I've done over the last week and a half. I had such a good visit.

Lauren

Survey + Hair Do's

The results of my survey are in, and 56% of people said I should keep my hair long. I was kind of hoping that's what would happen anyways. I am still perplexed by my trick question to see if my Dad reads my blog anymore. His name is Nevan, so I expected one or fewer answers of the last question. I think someone was playing a joke on me. Also, someone responded that they "could care less, I don't even know why I read your blog." Wonder who said that, maybe my brother reads my blog? It gave me a good laugh. 

So since I am going to keep my hair long I've decided to put a bit more effort into doing my hair, thus making the longer length worth the added hassle. The main reason I want long hair to begin with is so I can have it braided, or do fancy updo's. Most of the time though I just put it in a pony tail or messy bun and call it a day. Not anymore. Pinterest to the rescue.  For the wedding I did my hair using a modified version of this post. The change was to hold out two pieces on either side, do the twisty flippy thing, then twist the two side pieces and tuck them into the back. Then hide with a snazzy barrette. Sorry if that was super confusing. This is the best picture I have of the updo. It stayed in really well. 

Then yesterday, for our anniversary whale watching expedition, I used this video to do a summer hairstyle.

This looked good for most of the trip. My brother in law told me to take/ bring dramamine on the boat in case we got sea sick. I've never been sea sick but his story about everyone on the whale watch he was on puking was enough to scare me. The box said to take the pill 1 hour to 30 minutes before the activity so I did. I did not feel sick at all but the dramamine made me so tired and groggy. I fell sleep for a little while on the way out to sea at which point my hair got messed up, but it was windy so I didn't really care. 

We were going to go out to eat when we got home but the trip took a lot longer than we had thought it would so we didn't end up going out since we were much too tired, and it was too late. Maybe some other time this week we'll go out to a nice meal, then I'll have another chance to try a different updo, perhaps some other ideas from this blog. 

Lauren 

Recently

Hi Peeps! We are back from our Maine vacation. I (purposely) forgot my computer at home and took a break from blogging. I apologize if you were anxious about my whereabouts and doing-abouts. Here's a catch up. Recently I have:

• Hosted a party, cut down two trees, at said party, and laughed a lot. 
• Driven around the great state of Maine.
• Gone to a party, played corn hole, and lost terribly, went down a homemade slip and slide, got really muddy, and hurt my arm. Laughed so hard I couldn't tell the next morning if my abs hurt from laughing or if I had internal bleeding. 
• Been to Alewives Fabric, and still have money in my bank account. Miraculous! 
• Almost ran out of fuel in my mom's new diesel car. Bought an ice cream as a reward for not running out of fuel, and nearly gaged as I bit into it and a pungent cow poop smell wafted into my nostrils at the exact same time. 
• Saw a mailbox outside of a cemetery. Laughed a bit too much about that sight. So much so that I don't have a picture. 
• Held a brand new baby. 
• Played cribbage three times. Lost to Charlie three times. Still haven't hit him over the head with the cribbage board. I consider that a win. 
• Hung out with some very good friends. Realized how much I miss those very good friends. Was glad we are still able to fall back into being together like we'd just seen each other yesterday. Laughed some more
• Went swimming with my 10 year old, soon to be 11 year old, cousin. 
• Went for a boat ride in the rain.
• Hung out with the puppies.
• Dog faced myself. I am not sure that's a real thing, but it should be. (see last picture.)

Summer is off to a good start. The weather has not been fabulous but I suppose I can't complain.

I'll be back soon with some sewing projects!

Lauren

Growing

I've been thinking about the things I like and do not like lately. This has made me notice a few trends.

The key ingredient I lack in terms of all of the things I don't like doing is.....

I'm having too much fun with ribbet.com

I'm pretty sure Charlie figured this out long ago, but it took me a good 27 years. I'm going to admit it now though; I just don't like waiting for things. My hobbies are fairly instantly gratifying. That's not to say that my hobbies don't take a lot of time to do. I have no issues spending 2 hours doing something slowly and thoughtfully to get it right (sewing, painting) or spending two hours doing something lots of other people would think is boring. But during those two hours I am doing something. I hate sitting around doing nothing waiting for something else to happen. Maybe it's related to my Type A-ness in that I'd rather do it myself than twiddle my thumbs waiting. Anyways, I've been trying to conquer this issue and have decided to plant some things for our house. 

I know we won't have enough time for a full garden so I am attempting some flowers for the yard, a few herbs, and tomatoes to grow in containers. Since we've all established that I am Type A, and also not good at identifying plants, I've labeled most of the containers, but also put them in alphabetical order just in case. 

I saved a few weeks of spinach containers because it seemed silly to buy a tray for staring seeds for $10 when I could just use something I already have at home. I stabbed poked holes in the bottom with a knife to add drainage. 

The pete pellets were 19 cents at the hardware store. I've seen my Mom and Rich use them before. Once I got home I realized I never knew how they started them, so I watched part of this youtube video. I couldn't watch the whole thing; that would have taken too much patience. 

It was very frustrating to me to pay attention to the seed spacing guidelines, so I kind of didn't. Many of the seeds are placed too closely together, but I couldn't stand the idea of some not growing and waisting precious dirt. Seems ridiculous now. 

Now I have to remember to water them and wait. I guess I can do some other projects in the mean time, like buying a watering can, since all we have that holds water are these two wedding presents. 

 

Not exactly what I want to use for watering plants.

Lauren 

Fabric Nests?

When we were in the process of moving I tried to thin down my fabric collection. I have a lot of fabric, and weirdly have a very hard time saying goodbye to even little bits. I get emotionally attached to fabric, which seems very strange to say, especially for most of my readers who do no sew. I knew I had to get rid of the tiny little bits since I could never sew anything with them. Then I remembered how my parents used to spread dog hair over the lawn for birds to use in their nests. I always liked finding my dogs hair in a bird nest. I've seen this idea done with yarn, so I figured I could try with little fabric scraps. 

 I cut them down a little bit more, into very thin strips. I'm not sure how strong birds are around here, so I tried to make small pieces that tiny birds could lift.

I hung little clumps of fabric in the trees and bushes near the woods. Hopefully the birds around here will take some and make a warm little nest for their chicks this spring. 

If not at least I'll have some pretty scraps of fabric to look at in the fall when I rake the million and a half leaves in the yard.

Lauren

New York Adventure: Part Wedding

Too much to fit into one post. The whole reason we went to NYC was to go to Charlie's cousin's wedding. After a shower and a cat nap we set out to find a taxi. The first one we got into did not go so well. The man drove us about a quarter of a mile down a big hill and into a park while trying to figure out where we wanted to go. After several attempts to explain where we wanted to go and him saying "Where?" we finally just got out. Since I am an SLP I try extra hard to be accepting of people with hearing impairments, or language barriers, or whatever was wrong with this guy, but as the clock ticked away towards 6PM and we got no closer to our destination I finally gave up and we got out of the cab. Figures both of us had never hailed a cap before and our first attempt was a miserable failure. We've been in cabs before, we're not that backwoods....just never actually gotten in one without someone else. After hiking back up the hill, boy was I glad I didn't wear heels, we got another cab and then driver had a GPS so he could find the wedding location. And we got there without anymore issues.

As it turns out we didn't even need to worry about the time because there was a crash on the Brooklyn Bridge which caused many of the quests and wedding party to be very late for the wedding. When we got married at 3:59:59 I was ready to walk down the aisle and was so nervous I just wanted it to be over with so I could start having fun, I have no idea how Annie and Rob waited that long for the show to start but I praise them for keeping their cool. I would have lost it no doubt. Since the wedding was starting late we had the cocktail house early, and since it was Derby day they had mint juleps. Mint juleps look like mojitos, but do not taste like mojitos. It was my first and last. I really do not like burbon. Luckily they also had champagne. I like champagne. 

 Another good thing was that there was an incredible view to admire.

That's the Statue of Liberty in case you've time traveled from the past or future, or live under a rock. After taking 100 pictures and staring/ admiring the flowers and table settings (so funny how now that I have planned a wedding I pay attention to this stuff, before we got married I did not look at anything like that, now I love to admire it) the wedding started. Annie look gorgeous. 

Hurray! They are married! It was a beautiful ceremony. Just like with decor and the little details, I pay so much more attention to the ceremony than I ever did before we got married. I know how much planning goes into all of it so I have more of an appreciation for it. 

Seriously, the view was amazing. 

Speaking of amazing, so was the food. I didn't take any pictures though. Instead here is one of us at the table. 

This was the first wedding we've been to on this side of the family that was not ours or Jay and Meera's so we all got to hang out more so than at either of our weddings. I really picked a winner in marrying Charlie, but I got pretty lucky in the family he came with too. They are all so fun and nice, and some even read my blog! We had a great time.

 In the morning we woke up and drove home.We stopped about 80 times for different reasons, and then spent over an hour in IKEA. Once we got home and put together the item we bought we realized it was too big! Doh. Now we have to wait until we go to Boston, or make a special trip to return it. Big oops. Oh well, it was fun.

The whole weekend was a blast.

Lauren 

New York Adventure

This past weekend Charlie and I went to New York City for a wedding. It was so much fun. After work and track practice on Friday we met in Concord and started driving. I don't know how it happened but ever since we got married Charlie drives everywhere. We used to do more 50/50 driving, not I hardly ever drive. I love it. It allows me plenty of time to nap, take pictures, look at things and scan the radio.

It also allowed me to find where the closest Sonic was so we could stop for food. Charlie and I have loved Sonic ever since our road trip cross country in 2009. He loves the tots and I love the Sonic Blast, which is ice cream with M&M's mixed in and whip cream on top.

After lots of driving and then driving in circles to find a parking spot we made it to Brooklyn. We stayed with my aunt and cousins in Brooklyn Heights. In the morning I could not sleep in so I painted my nails on the deck of their apartment. It was gorgeous. I could have sat there all day.

After my nails were dry I stomped around enough to wake up my aunt and cousins and then we all went out for breakfast. I had steel cut oatmeal, it was so good. Lucy had the tiniest muffin ever.

After breakfast Charlie and I went out walking and decided to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. On the way to the bridge there was a tiny park with so many pretty flowers. I loved seeing everything in bloom. 

Right when we stepped onto the bridge we saw Jay and Meera running. It was so weird. We did not plan it at all and everyone was really stunned, except for Charlie, he is never phased by anything. 

We said goodbye and continued on our walk. 

It took us a while to get across. This could be due to the large amount of people walking, or my need to take 100 photos. Once we got to the other side I insisted that we buy sunscreen since I felt like my neck was burning and I didn't want to look like a lobster at the wedding. *Side Note* When you put on sunscreen and then take a shower does the lotion get in your eyes and burn? No matter what kind of sunscreen I use this happens to me. Once I had proper sun protectant on we walked to Purl in SoHo. They didn't open until 12 (weird if you ask me, since I've usually been up for 6 hours by then) so we had to wait outside for a few minutes. 

 It was worth the wait though (Charlie would disagree I am sure). Tons of yarn, felt, fabric, patterns and notions. I'll show you later what I bought. From there we walked to my uncle's ice cream shop. I forced my other cousin who goes to college in NYC to come meet us there. She's younger than me but does not look like it at all. She's also super smart and mature and fun. I always tell myself to spend more time with her. I'm so glad she came.

They were having a photo shoot at the shop so my two sister-in-laws, and Charlie's mom and dad met us there and we had our pictures taken for a book. They are meant to look like yearbook photos from the 80's so there was a cool background and then we wore 80's clothes and tried to look goofy. I've never had my picture taken with the cool lazer background so I loved this.

It was really fun and I got a free ice cream out of it.

 After we ate ice cream we took the subway back to Brooklyn since my feet were killing me, took showers, took a power nap and went to the wedding. More on that tomorrow.

Lauren