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 Top #5

I feel like I am sewing a ton of stuff I had planned to finish this summer in hopes of wearing them before it gets too cold. I'm pretty sure I missed the boat on my Date Night Dress. This summer tanktop was finished in the nick of time. 

This makes the fifth top I've made using this pattern. So many that I don't even look at the directions anymore. I've had the fabric since when chevrons were first cool. I always joke that I have to wait for a trend to die before I pick it up. The chevrons feel no different. My Dad also jokes that New Hampshire is where trends go to die, so that saying works too. 

 I wore it on Friday, paired with the obvious choice, a cardigan. Wearing tank tops with a cardigan makes them much more wearable for New England. The next top I have planned is a version like this one by Rae. 

Lauren 

Date Night Dress and Slip

One thing I really wanted to sew this summer was a Date Night Dress and Slip. I finished it last week, but unfortuantely it's too cold to wear it. My plan was to finish it for an actual date that Charlie and I were going on last Friday. I did finish the dress and the slip, but it was way too cold to wear on our dinner/concert date. 

Both are made out of voile, my favorite fabric.  Very soft and cool, but not suitable for the recent cold temperatures. 

I like the flutter sleeves. I can't wait to wear it, but it seems like that won't be until Spring. 

Lauren 

Best $4.40 I Ever Spent

When my computer broke in what I refer to as; "the bathroom sink tragedy of 2012", I sent the broken hunk a junk back to Apple to recycle it, since I am Earthy like that. Then they sent me a gift card for $45 for recycling my old computer. Yahoo! Said gift card sat in my wallet for over two years (I don't get out much.)

A few weeks ago we were driving South to visit friends and were driving past the mall that I knew had an Apple store. I asked Charlie if we could stop and he miraculously said yes. We walked around the store for approximately 2 minutes before I decided I needed an ipod shuffle. Actually, it was the only thing in the store that was close to my gift card amount, and an ipod was pretty much the only Apple product I didn't have, aside from a desktop computer. Have I mentioned I like Apple? Since there are 100 people working at the Apple store on a Saturday, and one color option was purple (obvious choice) we were in and out in no time; which Charlie was very pleased about.

Upon returning home I loaded up the ipod with tunes. I never intended to be a person who runs with an ipod. When people asked me why I didn't listen to music when I ran I would just say; "I like listening to nature" or "my ears are too small for headphones"; which is 99% true. Now that I have listened to music while running I can tell you that I 100% run faster with music.

The only down side is that I like to have to dance while listening to music. Now my runs are half running, half dancing, and half playing air instruments (did you know 5 out of 4 people are bad at fractions?) I have a very diverse repertoire of air instruments and thought I'd share them with you for your viewing pleasure.

1. My personal favorite; air sax. 2. Air Piano. 3. Air Drums. 4. Air Jazz Flute 5. Air Washboard (I listen to a lot of Zydeco music apparently) 6. Air Accordion. * Not pictured; Air Violin, I can't do that move anymore since I pulled a muscle doing it.

In case you were wondering about my running I am going to run a race this Sunday. The same one I have done for the last two years. My brother-in-law and his wife are running it as well so it should be super fun. I hope my running enemy is not there. I also seem to have my shiz together in terms of not getting terrible blisters on my feet, not chaffing, and managing my hydration/ food intake so that'll be nice for a change. I realize I just jinxed myself, but I had to say it since it's taken me 6 years to figure those things out.

Do you have any songs I should add to my playlist to make me run like the wind on Sunday?

Lauren

Better Late Than Never....Closest To Project Runway I'll Ever Get

In August I went to see Arcade Fire with my brother, his girlfriend, and my mom. They bought four tickets and then invited me. After agreeing Garrett mentioned that you had to dress up in a costume and he said he was going to wear his astronaut suit with lights sewn into it. I thought to myself that it would be fun if I pretended I was on Project Runway. When we got back from our out West Trip we took the red eye and we both slept about .5 seconds for the entire 6 hour flight and we were in terrible moods and so tired; which seemed like the perfect time to buy fabric. I figured the added tiredness and general crankiness would make it more like I was on Project Runway since the designers are always tried and in bad moods. I gave myself a $30 limit, and spent $29.48. If I had been more awake I might have figured out more yardage and spent less, but I figured having more fabric would be better than not enough. 

The general pattern was the Saltsprings Dress I made earlier in the summer with a few minor changes. My favorite Arcade Fire song is called Sprawl ii, in the music video the main singer has two very cool dresses that I took inspiration from. The main one looked like it was made out of cheerleading pom poms. Anything with frills and sparkles seemed like fun to make. My main goal in this endeavor was to sew something I would never sew for myself normally. 

source.

I cut a lot of strips of different tulle and sewed them onto the bodice. It looked kind of like a piñata. Not exactly like pom poms but I liked it.  

 For the back I wanted something a little different so I sewed a layer of glittery tulle on top of the lining fabric I had then sewed random swirls on it. After I had a bunch of swirly lines I cut in between the sewn lines. It looks kind of like gills. I think I might try a technique like this another time because it was fun and I think it looks cool.

The skirt was made out of sequined fabric. Mostly because I bought a lot of it and wanted to use it all. Of course I added pockets. I had so much tulle left over that I made a train that tied around my waist. Thank goodness it was detachable because it made going to the bathroom in a porta-potty much easier. The concert was really fun. I had never been to a concert with general admission and was a bit worried I'd get trampled or sucked into a mosh pit; but I was safe. We were very close to the stage too so that was fun. People did keep stepping on my train but since the tulle cost about $2 total I didn't even care. 

When we got there I was a little worried that we'd be the only people dressed up or that Garrett had said it to pull a joke on us. There were a ton of people there in crazy outfits; a woman wearing a unicorn head/mask, people wearing outfits made of mirrors, and Batman and his whole crew. Here is Garrett's light up flight suit. 

It was an awesome concert, like nothing else I've ever been to. It took me 2-3 days to get the glitter off of my body from this dress, which is why I didn't put it back on for these photos. I think I could get away with wearing it for Halloween. I'm not sure what I'll be though. The tooth fairy maybe? Any ideas?

I am sure I would have been kicked off of Project Runway over this outfit, but it was really fun to make. 

Lauren 

Fall Bucket List

I was recently telling my friend about how much I hate Fall, but how I am going to make an effort to enjoy it more this year. She was kind enough to send me a bucket list she created just for me. How sweet. I'll try my best to do them all with a smile.

1. Have a PSL from Starbucks once a week.
2. Make a fall wreath.
3. Decorate outside entry way. 
4. Have mulling spice on the stove on Saturdays. 
5. Make a scarecrow for the garden. 
6. Sit outside in ski chairs and watch the leaves fall. Perhaps next to a fire.
7. Go apple picking.
8. Paint some pumpkins and bring them to work.
9. Carve a pumpkin.
10. Wear a Halloween costume to work if allowed. 
11. Host a harvest party and bob for apples.
12. Buy a new fall sweater.
13. Plant an acorn.
14. Buy fall riding boots.
15. Do a corn maze with friends.
16. Buy real apple cider.
17. Make apple sauce.
18. Go for a long drive leaf peeping.
19. Make a leaf pile. 
20. Hike a mountain and admire the pretty colors below.

Anything you think I should add?

What's your least favorite season? 

Lauren 

The One Where I Try To Be Honest About Blogging And Life

Ho hum...where to start. Brain dump coming at you.

I've been reading a lot, and hearing a lot about goals, setting goals, reaching goals, good goals vs. bad goals, and how if you don't have goals you're not likely to get anything you actually want to go. Heck I spend all day at work either writing goals, thinking of goals, or trying to get students to reach their goals. Lots of thinking about goals lately.

I didn't really want to write a whole post about this, because I feel like I would just be beating a dead horse, but I did recently quit facebook. There were lots of reasons, but mostly I was just sick of the time I was wasting on it, becoming absorbed in acquaintances lives, getting jealous/envious of others, wondering if my posts were making others envious/jealous and feeling bad about that possibility, and in all honestly I was friends with too many people who have passed away on facebook. I couldn't get myself to unfriend them, but then I'd look at their pictures and just get very sad and miss them. Or facebook would remind me it was their birthday and I would burst out crying over my breakfast. So I quit. And I feel much better. The only downside (or maybe not) is that my blog updated on facebook which is how 95% of the people who read it got here. My posts used to have about 50-70 people read them, and now only have about 8  (hi Dad!) Part of me feels upset about this; would I keep this blog if absolutely no one read it? Probably not. The other part of me is kind of happy about it. I miss the days when I would grumble on about my annoying neighbors, or the time I fell in a mud puddle, or giving up cable. I was funny back then, when no one read my blog and I didn't have to worry about being politically correct. But then I wonder, do I really want to go back to who I was in 2009?  A "stressed out" grad student with no money and nothing but humor and vegetarian meals to live off of? Not really. I can't go back to being her, and I don't want to.

 I also don't want to be a naive 23 year old who posts her early morning solo running loops, tells everyone when she's going on vacation (i.e. "please rob me I'm not home") and shares details about fights with her boyfriend. The internet is both wonderful and scary, you can literally find out almost anything about a person online, if it's been posted. And those things are permanent. I have stopped following bloggers who I felt shared too much detail about their lives, and especially their children's lives. I unfriended people who posted to many personal details on facebook because it made me feel creepy knowing that stuff about the, When the time comes that we have a baby I don't want to be the person sharing every detail, every picture, every embarrassing story about our kid.

Having 8 readers instead of 60 has made me think about what I really want from this blog, what's my blogging goal? I don't want to be a "famous blogger" with thousands of readers. I don't even want to quit my day job to be a blogger, which seems to be a lot of bloggers goal. I don't ever see myself designing a fabric line, or making up sewing patterns like the other bloggers I follow. I kind of just want to tell you 8 people about things I've sewed, home improvement projects, share funny stories, tell you about running and the dogs. There are so many posts about random stuff that I have never published because I think the posts are just too random. Then I think, well your interests are pretty random Lauren so if all you want to do is post about things you like or funny things that have happened to you then keep doing it. I also have some unpublished posts that are for lack of a better word "dark", and I don't publish them because I'm too scared of how people will react. One of my main complains about facebook was that it was all fake; that you could choose only the good stuff to share. Only the best picture (out of 100), only the most exciting thing you did over the weekend; not that you emptied the dishwasher and cleaned the shower drain, only a happy update when something good happened, not an update about how mundane your life is. I feel like the past few years I've been doing that here. I only blog about clothes or projects that turn out perfectly (or close enough by my standards); I have tons of failed projects, or butt ugly clothing I've sewed, but that never makes it here, it only makes it to the scrap pile. I take 50 pictures of myself in an outfit and only 3 make it to the blog. I don't blog about the hard stuff in life, because for one it's hard to talk about, I also don't want to depress people. When my friend was sick she said she reading my blog made her laugh even when she was having a really crappy day so I never talked about anything sad or not perfect because I wanted her to be happy reading it. I felt I had nothing to complain about when I put my life into perspective; she was dying of cancer and I had tons of free time to sew and live my life so I started putting up a perfect/happy front and stopped writing about the hard stuff. Then last year a friend committed suicide. I started writing several posts about this topic over the last year, but never got over the first sentence or two. I'll never know exactly what contributed to her decision, but part of me can't help but feel that the "happy front" we all (I have) put up could have had something to do with it.

After my brain spins for 20 minutes on blogging goals I usually then inadvertently move on to what my life goals are. Is being a good wife and friend, becoming a mom, working hard at a job that I like and being happy enough of a life goal? Isn't that essentially everyones goal? Do I need to be different? If my goals are the same as everyone else's doesn't that just make me another cog in the wheel. I'm happy with my job and there really is no "moving up" in it. I'll never be a CEO or a principal, I don't even want to get my Ph. D like I used to think I did/would. I never want to be in charge of a lot of people, and I don't want to wear a suit to work. I like cardigans too much. I love our home and would be (I think) happy to live here for 30 years (or longer). I'm so very happy being married to Charlie, I think to myself at least once a week "how'd I get so lucky that he not only likes me but loves and tolerates me?" I am realizing slowly that friendships take work in order to maintain them, but I have never felt more solid in knowing exactly who my friends are. I feel like I am a good friend to them. It's taken me a while to realize that having 1,000 friends is not what I want. I want 10 really good friends, so that I have more time and energy to spend with those people who really matter.

Is that enough? I could think of a thousand things I'd like to do, goals I'd like to accomplish (have grass in our yard instead of dirt, figure out what the heck is wrong with my garden, knit a sweater, write a memoir, go to Iceland, have a perfectly clean house all the time, learn to cook, lose 3 pounds) but in all honesty those have been things I've kind of wanted to do for a while and they never actually get done, so that must mean they're not the most important things to me.

In summary, I am happy that you 8 people find me interesting enough to read my blog. I am going to be more deliberate and honest/real in my blogging. Life is sometimes really hard, I do not have the perfect life, and I never intended to make anyone feel like I did. I want my blog to be a place where I can not only share my sewing projects, but other random stuff (which I am told by my dad is more interesting than my sewing projects anyways). I am working on not caring if lots of people read what I have to say, if anything the blog serves as a good reminder to me of stories, projects, and pictures from my life. Blogging is pretty selfish and egocentric to begin with (sometimes I count the number of times I say "I" in a post and am stunned), people blog because they think they have something important to say that others should or would like to hear about. Truth is I'd probably still write here even if my only reader was Charlie (who I force to read my blog.)

This is usually the part where I hit "save" and never actually publish what I just spent an hour writing. But here goes.

Lauren

Summer Reading List

I feel like I read a lot this summer, but didn't really end up finishing that many books. I started reading a few books that were highly recommended or I had heard a lot about, but didn't end up liking them, so I didn't finish them (The Interestings). There were a few books that I did read cover to cover, and really liked.

Where'd You Go Bernadette? By Maria Semple. This book was so interesting. It was a fast read and I literally devoured it. It's written from a 12-year-olds perspective about her eccentric mother's disappearance. It sounds really sad, but it wasn't.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman.  I saw the preview for this movie when I went to see The Fault In Our Stars and it seemed intriguing so I decided to read the book, since we all know I'll most likely never see the movie. I read most of the book on the flight to and from Washington, it's YA so it was pretty fast. I was a little miffed about the ending. It was an okay read if you like young adult novels and don't want to think too hard when you're reading. A summer beach book for sure.

This One Is Mine by Maria Semple. I liked her second book so much that I read her first. It was not nearly as good. I only finished it because I wanted to know if one of the characters died or not. I think I would have liked it better if I had read it first and not had the expectations of it being as good as her second book.

Brain On Fire by Susanah Cahalan . My mom was reading this book and I stole it off her night stand when we were visiting and stayed up too late 2 nights in a row finishing it. It a true story of a newspaper reporters mystery illness that made her "crazy" for over a month. I think I liked it so much be it talked a lot about different parts of the brain and potential things that could have been wrong with the author. She also mentioned that she relieved speech/language services while she was in rehab, I wish she had gone more into it however. It was nice to read before school started to get my brain thinking of actual work, not just relaxing.

Overwhelmed Work, Love, and Play When No One Has The Time. By Brigit Schulte. This was a fiction book with lots of references and statistics in it, and it's mostly geared towards working moms or (in my opinion) women who are fed up with their husbands, but I still felt like I took meaningful pieces from it. It seemed to outline the problems a lot of people face but didn't have a whole lot by means of suggestions for fixing those problems.

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan. I whispered this title to the librarian to ask for her to fill out an inter-library loan because I didn't want people to think I was a racist. I love this book. It has multiple different story lines with lots of drama. It's also set (mostly) in Singapore which I know next to nothing about, and has little side notes to tell you about cultural references you wouldn't otherwise understand. It's also about really rich people, and I've come to realize that I usually read sad stories about really poor people so it's a good change. (Side note, I am not done with the book but I don't think my opinion will change unless all of the main characters are killed in a freak elephant trampling).

What have you been reading?

Am I the only one who feels like a total loser if I don't like a book that tons of other people love?

Lauren

City Gym Shorts Take 2!

I knew I wanted to make another pair of City Gym Shorts so when my friend Sam said she'd take a pair I decided to whip her up a pair. It was even easier the second time. 

My one complaint (aside from the upside down birds) of my last pair was that it was difficult to tell which side was the front and which was the back, until you put them on and they either fit great or give you a huge wedgie. To eliminate this problems I used some selvage to make a "tag" of sorts to tell which is the back.

I hope it stays warm enough for her to wear them.

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