My first 10km

This weekend my mom came to town for our annual run.  We decided this was our 4th annual but this year was extra special because it was our first 10 km race.  A few years back we tried a 10 km on our own and we ran in my area full of hills and my knee just didn't cooperate so our run turned into lots of walking.  I was so disappointed in myself.  This year, we owned that race.

When I say we owned the race, I certainly don't mean we were the fastest runners by any means.  But, we finished, and we finished together!

You see, while I am the queen of cardio, my mom is the one with muscles.  I run for my exercise and she lifts.  Very different skill set.  She can lift double what I can and probably doesn't complain nearly as much as I do.  So committing to a 10k was a huge deal.

I was so proud of my 60 year old Mom.  We ran 10 and walked 1 minute through the whole race. There were hills, big hills, and training in SK gives you zero hill training.  Then to top it off when we decided to listen to music, her ipod wouldn't work. I didn't dare tell her I was listening to my tunes the whole second loop!

My mom has always been my fitness inspiration, from her teaching aerobics when I was young, to encouraging me when I decided to get fit myself.  Not to mention that she joined cross fit in her 50s, will go so spin and barre classes with me, and is taking a rowing class this summer.  I hope that I am as active as her when I am her age.  She proves over and over that age is just a number.

As long as she is willing to run with me, I will be right be side her.  While she has always been my biggest cheerleader, I hope she thinks that I am her biggest cheerleader as well.

Some of our other cheerleaders include James and the 2 kids.  The parking lot was so crazy busy that James decided to just drop us of and come back for us when we were done.  In the end he found a spot and the kids cheered for us as we left and as we crossed the finish line.  We were so happy to see them.

I loved the run so much that I am already looking for another run to do this summer and Grady has committed to running one with me.  I'll run the 10km and he'll run the 1k.  I love that he is showing interest in running, even if it is a short one.

When we weren't training we managed to cram some fun into our 24 hour get away.  We did a lot of walking around the town and found a few gems, like this Canmore Rock I'd never seen before.

We had breakfast at A&W because that is where Grady wanted to eat.  Not exactly my idea of a good pre-run race, but whatevs, it was food.

We made a reso at one of our favorite restaurants, Crazy Weed.  My mom is hard to please food wise and she gave this 2 thumbs up.  Technically, I didn't ask her but assume that she didn't complain that she enjoyed it!

We made 2 visits to the hotel pool.  It took Grady over 30 minutes to get the courage to go down the slide.  When he finally did, we couldn't get him off.  Cooper said the pool was his favorite part of the weekend while Grady said it was the playground.

Grandma got lots of special time with her grandsons.  With the electronics tucked away while we explored the city there was lots of time for Grady to quiz Grandma on fires and scorpion and get her opinions on whether either of them lead to someone dying.  Poor Grandma...

Its not very often I get a pic with my hot hubby. I was so happy that we decided to make it a family outing and that he was there to cheer us on.  He doesn't say it in words but I love how he supports my fitness endeavors and doesn't complain (much) when I spend money on a trainer and cute gym clothes.  Ha!

The playground has a great exercise area surrounding it for the parents (and kids) to keep active.  It really is one of the best playgrounds that we've been to and we made 2 trips to play there in our short visit.

Overall, it was great weekend.  I feel very proud of both mom and I for choosing to challenge ourselves this year and for stepping out side our comfort zone.    It was so worth it. Not to start thinking about which run we want to do next year....

five on friday

{one}  The Style Perspective series is wrapping up over on TBB so we are getting ready to launch our newest series, Create 28.  This series initially started with Carrie and Whitney who are regular contributors and they have decided to run it through TBB for the month of June!

Each day of June will have a style prompt with the daily looks and the featured blogger for the day will present her look on her individual blog and then follow up with a weekly recap on the blended blog on Wednesdays. Wednesday is fashion day after all! Your truly will have 2 featured looks during the month. Stay tuned....

{two}  It has been a wet week minus 2 days of sunshine that was a teaser to remind us that summer is close.  But not here yet.

{three}  My Mom is here this weekend and we are doing the Rocky Mountain Soap Run in Canmore.  We try to do a run every year but this will be our first 10k run together.  My Mom has been busy training as running isn't her fave thing to do.  She is more a lifting kind of gal.  I've ran 8k a few times in the past month but am excited to finish my first ever 10k race.  The forecast is calling for snow.

{four}  Next week is our annual girls trip to the West Edmonton Mall where we park the car on Friday night at the mall and it stays there until we depart on Sunday.  That's right, we even sleep at the mall.  #happy place.  Check out some of our previous year trips dating back to the beginning of this blog.  You can read about some of our prior trips here: 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015.

{five}  Last night was our school carnival.  The forecast called for rain but the skies were blue and the sun was shining.  Dare I say it was hot out?  Then about an hour in we looked to the west and saw the black clouds rolling in.

When we felt the first rain drop about 5:45 we decided to head home.  We had to go to soccer any way so we weren't going to be missing much.  We got home and stayed dry.  We packed up for soccer and the skies really opened and it rained.  It really rained.  We went to soccer any way not sure if out team, or the other team, would show up.  It was unreal how many kids and parents were out there in the rain ready to play.  We had a full team of kids ready to play.  Our team is pretty hard core.  About 15 minutes in the rain stopped, the kids admired the rainbows, and the sun came back.  What an odd weather night.

That's it for now.  Have a good weekend!

Style Perspectives 12: Navy Stripes

Week 12 of the Style perspective series brings us Navy Stripes and lucky for you I have TWO outfits to show you this week.

The first look is a casual one.  Cold shoulder shirts seem to be all the rage this spring and I am proud to say that I've owned mine for almost 3 years.  I bought it at a local boutique store called Espy.  James got me a personal shopper for Christmas the year I went back to work after maternity leave and she introduced me to this store, and really fashion in general.  So my shopping addiction is really James' fault.

I also added these fringe wedges to my shoe collection last summer.  I was at our company stampede party in full cowboy attire, including cowboy boots and socks.  It was so hot out and I saw a girl wearing wedges very similar to these and was jealous of her airy cowboy look. I scoured the Internet and found these.  Besides being a bit tall for my liking I really like them and they are right on trend this year!  Score!

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My second look is cold be dressed up or down.   I wore it to work so I opted for jewelry, espadrilles, and lipstick.  I also think this dress would look super cute with sneakers and a jean jacket.  Must remember that for next time....

Most of you have figured out that I am a Stella and Dot gal when it comes to jewelry.  I love that it is classic, well made and a great price point.  The necklace I am wearing in this out fit is the mixed metal sutton and it can be worn 5 ways.

Ironically, the second most common way I wear it is the bottom left without the sparkly layer.  I wear the sparkly shorter one (bottom right) mostly on its own to dressier events.  I love this necklace so much I also have the white one... oops... (the white one is out of stock).

Recently I saw on social media that the Stella Ear Climbers are back in stock and shipping in June so I had to do another order.  I ordered the silver but I have a little silver envy right now.

I opened an online party if any one has been thinking about doing an order.   Leave a comment if you have any questions or want to know my favorites.  I have a long list of items I love.  I should seriously be a stylist!

Back to clothing... here is a recap of what the gals at TBB  are wearing for their real (or pretend!) graduation parties!

Next week we are styling a spring dress.  This should be easy and fun - feel free to join in!

ONCE UPON A TIME & HAPPILY EVER AFTER : Library-Lovin’-Lady

DAILY STYLE FINDS: The Personal Stylist

FOXY’S DOMESTIC SIDE: The Crafty Engineer

SIMPLY SHAUNACEY: Reformed Frumpy Mommy

TWO TEENS AND THEIR MAMA: Stylish Midlife Mama

RSQUARED: The Not So Nerdy Accountant

SHOES TO SHIRAZ: The Shoe Hoarding French Teacher

PUPPIES AND PRETTIES: Cube Dwelling Fashionista

MISHAPS AND MAYHEM OF SOLITARY LIFE: Single Girl, Simple Style

A LOVELY LITTLE WARDROBE: A Casual Petite

MAKING THE MOST OF EVERYDAY Classic Yet Current Over Forty

NICKANDNIK: Mama with Curves

LIVING ON CLOUD NINE: Blissful Fashionista

WHITNEY À LA MODE: A book-loving French Teacher

An InLinkz Link-up

Extra Extra Long Weekend

This past weekend I had 4 days off and we started the weekend with no plans and a crummy weather forecast.  With no concrete plans, we let each day take us where it may.

Friday morning we kicked of the weekend with a day trip to Drumheller.  I hadn't been since I was a kid and I was actually looking forward to it and so were the kids.

Truthfully, the museum was a touch of a let down.  Not because it was bad, it was actually pretty impressive, but more because I'm not that into dinosaurs.  James on the other hand wanted to read all the signs and take it all in.  The kids wanted to rush from dinosaur to dinosaur.  In the end, we spent about 2 hours at the museum.  And believe it or not, I did not ask them to pose for the photo, Grady put his arm around his brother willingly.

Grady chose a gourmet lunch at Subway (his new restaurant of choice), which I thought he would say was his favorite part of the day, but it turns out that he  enjoyed the giant dinosaur the most. Here they are on the dinosaur foot.

To give perspective, I swiped this photo from google since I did not take a photo of my own.  I wish the weather was that nice the day we were there.  If you pay, you can take the stairs to the dinosaurs mouth and look at, which of course we did.  We were up there all of 1 minute.  Money well spent.

When we arrived in Drumheller it was 3 degrees out.  We hoped to do a little hike as I've heard they are beautiful but none of us were willing to brave the cold.

Saturday morning we woke up and the weather was worse then Friday.  We contemplated bowling but couldn't book a lane and we didn't want to show up and be turned away.  Alternatively we decided on The Angry Birds movie.

The movie started at 5 and we stayed home until then.  A rainy day is the perfect day to stay home and do some cleaning.  I went through all the toys in the basement and organized them into keep, sell, donate, and garbage.  I felt very productive so the rest of the day was spent reading and relaxing.  

I really enjoyed the Angry Bird movie.  I couldn't decide if I was going to go with James and the boys but I'm really glad that I decided to go. It was cute and just the right length.  

Sunday, we woke up to snow.  On May long weekend.  Boo!

On the way to the boy's weekly art class, we got a call that it was cancelled, so we headed to Walmart to do the return I planned to do while the kids were at art.    Of course we didn't leave empty handed.  The boys grabbed these Nerf guns and they have been a hot item this rainy weekend.  If only we didn't keep losing the bullets.....

Monday I started the day with spin, strength, core.  It was pouring so it was the perfect way to get my sweat on.  Monday is our usual spin day but we didn't have a sitter today so we divided and conquered.  I took morning and James took evening.

We filled the rest of the weekend with xbox, tv, and ministicks for the kids and books and TV for me.

I really enjoyed The Kindness of stranger.  The plot is dark and may be disturbing to some, but it you can handle the subject matter than this will be page turner for you.  I'm also working my way through Parenthood still and averaged 2-3 episodes per day this weekend, most being after the kids were in bed.  I'm down to 10 episodes left and it is safe to say I am really going to miss the Braverman family.  After I finished the first book, I started The Third Wife, it is a little slower but I find myself wanting to find out what happened.

Most weekends, our schedule is jammed packed, from soccer, to dinners, to birthday parties... run, run, run!  This weekend was the exact opposite and you know what, I kind of liked it.  It is so rare that we spend so much time at home that I got lots done and still had time to read and watch tv.   It was cold so I didn't feel bad for curling up on the couch and being lazy.  Maybe a quiet, rainy, extra long weekend was just what we the doctor ordered!

I hope your weekend was relaxing as ours was!

My thoughts on.... Superstore grocery pick up

This past week I heard on the radio that Superstore started a new program called Click and Collect where you order your groceries online and then pick up at the store during a specified time period for a reasonable.  My first thought was where was this when I had babies?

When I first heard that Superstore was offering this service I thought I'd wait a few weeks to try it since there are always hiccups when something new is introduced.  Then I ran out of cereal and milk for my cereal loving children and decided to use the service a little sooner than I expected.

 Setting up an account was easy. 

 You go to www.shop.superstore.ca and create an account.  I highly recommend checking that your Superstore is offering this service.  Because it is brand new, only 50% or the stores in Calgary are offering and sorry Saskatchewan friends, they haven't launched in SK quite yet.  Lucky for me, the Superstore just a few blocks from my house was on the list. Score.

Just like that I could start adding my groceries.  At first I was just searching by type and aisle but that was slow.

Using the search feature I was able to find the exact product more quickly.

What was even easier, was that I linked my account to my PC plus card so there was a history of all the items I had bought over the past year since the card was introduced.

Under My Shop, the items that I frequently buy were listed and easily added to my cart.

I thought I would start small and my order initially reached just over $75 with just a few produce items to tyr them out.  That seems to be the biggest concern, will they shopper choose produce as well as me?

When I checked out, I was offered checkout times available.  The more popular time slots were $5 per order and I chose a 3-5pm slot for $3 and will stop on my way home from work on the later end of that window.

The cost is reasonable.

You have until midnight the day before your pick up day to add groceries.

Over the course of the day, my order went form $75 to $175 as I added items over the course of the day I was missing.  James also added items when he got home from work.  If he can do it, I promise you can!

Up until this point, I would give the program 2 thumbs up.  This is where it gets a bit dicey.

At about 330 pm on the day of pick up I get a phone call from Superstore that they are running behind on the 3-5pm time slot and asked if I was on my way to the store. I said I would be there in 45 min and they said that was great, they had a shopper out doing my order as we spoke.  Great.  I hop in my car at 4 and make my way to Superstore.

While I was on the way home, they called and emailed to tell me that my order was ready.

I took a quick look at the order that included all the substitutions that they did for my order.  All of them were fine except one - the gave me blackberries instead of blueberries.  No thanks.

I arrived at the assigned stall at 4:32 and called the number provided.

At this point, I told them I did not want the blackberries and they removed them from my order.

Then I waited while playing with my phone.  I wish I'd had my book.  I was paying attention to the cars around me.  The van beside me had both door of the van open and 2 kids inside. It looked like they's been there a while.

They left without their groceries in the end.  I don't know the story, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't good.

Just like that, my order came out. The guy was pleasant and loaded the groceries in my van for me.  He noted that he forgot to charge me for the water but said it was on them since there was a wait.  I thanked him and as he left my van, the lady on the other side of me told him she'd been there for over an hour and wanted her groceries.  Yikes.  I also noted that the car 2 down was expressing her dissappointment to a manager.  Double yikes.

Despite the trouble the other vehicles were having, exactly 15 minutes later I was leaving Superstore with my groceries in tow.

Being the typical former auditor that I am I checked off every item on my reciept to make sure that I had received it.

I received each and every item I paid for.

While I did receive all my items. I was missing a few items that were on my order that didn't arrive at the van but also were not paid for.

One of the crucial items I was missing was milk.  The very reason I decided to do the order in the first place.  If they would have forgotten my chips, no biggie, I could survive for a week, but I had to make a trip to the grocery store in the end because in my house, we don't survive a day in our house without milk!

I also received an item I did not pay for.

While I was checking my receipt, I had 1 more items than was on my receipt?  A welcome gift perhaps?

I also noted on the receipt that they waved the $3 delivery charge.

While the dude was loading my groceries, I asked him when the program started and he told me last week.  So this is the very early stages of Click and Collect.   For me, the process was relatively smooth but for others it seemed to be a little bumpy.

I'd give the process a 7 out of 10.

I probably would have given it higher if they didn't forget my milk.

Will I try Click and Collect again? Heck Yes!!

Do I recommend that you try it how?  Not unless you are prepared for it to not be 100!

The idea is such a good one that I am willing to persevere a few hiccups while they perfect the program.  I filled out the survey I received within minutes of picking up my groceries in hopes that they will work on, in my case, getting the items on the list in the bag.

Or at least don't ever forget the milk.

Have you tried Click and Collect yet?  Do you plan to?

Style perspectives 11: Graduation outfit

Welcome to week 11 of the Style Perspective series over at TBB.  This week Sheila has chosen a graduation outfit since her son has just graduated from high school!  I have many, many years before I have to put together a graduation outfit but I am using my imagination today to show what I would wear if I had a ceremony to attend.

I chose to stick with something neutral.  I am usually a color girl, but if I were attending a graduation, I would want to blend in and have my graduate stand out!  Since most graduations occur in spring, I chose a dress and wedges.  It is hard to believe that I only started wearing wedges last year. Last year.  They make any outfit more spingy. Even if they are black.  I added a pop of color with red nails and lips with some bling in the form of bracelets while keeping it simple on the necklace.

I decided that since we are talking graduation that we would take a little stroll down memory lane.

Here are a few graduation photos of me over the past 30+ years starting in Kindergarten.

I was lucky enough to meet Deena at Kindergarten orientation when I was only 4 years old. Who knew that 35 years later we'd still be friends.  She is more like a sister to me really.  Sister from another mister. Ha!

Moving on to high school we have some really oddly curled 90s hair and minimal jewellery. Exactly opposite the the current me.

Here you have a sample of the graduation attire in 1997.  Surprisingly enough, the dresses aren't that dated.  We all went for classic colors that haven't dated themselves. Except maybe the lace on Sara's red dress.  It is the hair that is a dead give away that this photo was taken almost 20 years ago!

Next, you have me at my graduation from the College of Commerce at the U of S in 2001.  Much better, but those were in my over plucked eye brow days. Have I ever told you the story about how 2 of my best friends held me down in high school to pluck my very hairy eyebrows.  I'm talking about you Candace and Carmen.

I did not attend my graduation from university as I was a January grad and I had already moved away so I chose not to make the trip back to Saskatoon for the graduation ceremony.  So instead, I'm showing you a photo of James and I at my CA graduation in 2001 when I completed CA school of business.

I still have that blue dress.  I still love it.  And 4 years later this exact shade of blue, to be referred as Christy Blue, was the color of my bridesmaid dresses.

Finally to end the post, here is a recap of the ladies of TBB wearing their sneakers and blazers proudly!

Join us next week when we will be wearing navy stripes!

An InLinkz Link-up

Sleep Struggles

There is nothing better than a sleeping baby toddler child.  I could stare at my sleeping boys forever.  Each night before I go to bed, I go into each of their rooms to turn off their lights and give them one last kiss before turning in myself.  I'd be lying if I said that every once in a while I didn't crawl into bed and snuggle with them as well.

Grady is my tough kid to put to bed.  He is a master procrastinator.  He needs water, he needs, to pee, he needs one last snuggle.  Let's be honest, I can't wait for the kids to get to bed so adult time can start.  Get your mind out the gutter.  I was talking about trashy TV! When he was younger I was sucked into laying with him for longer than I would like and I was getting frustrated.  I cut out the snuggling all together but realized that this stage is so short that I should lay with him if he asks.  I started telling him what time I will stay until and he could see the clock and know how many minutes he has left.  My goal is to vacate his room by 8:30.  Lately it is more like 8:45.

Grady is also my child that likes to sleep with me when James is away.  He keeps James' side of the bed warm.  We both look forward to those nights!

Cooper on the other hand is a dream to put to bed most nights.  He crawls in to bed grabs his bunny and asks me to lay with him. I lay with him for 1 minute and he doesn't argue.  As opposed to his big brother, Cooper does not like to snuggle.  When I lay with him, I get my own pillow and we aren't allowed to touch. He is all business at bedtime.   Where Grady likes me to check on him, Cooper is always sleeping when I come back up.

Both my boys sleep in their underwear

Cooper is also diaper free at night these days.  Just the other night the kids bathroom light flicked on and it woke me up.  I just assumed it was Grady.  I waited for the light to go back off but it didn't.  I got out of bed to assess the situation and I saw Cooper's bare butt running back to his room while he tried to get his underwear back up.  I startled him as much as he startled me.  Now I officially know he gets up to pee in the night.  I should have known it wasn't Grady.  He  never turns the light on to pee at night and always misses the toilet.  I will take lights on over pee on the floor any day.  #boymom

Cooper has been sleeping with Bunny for years.  While he isn't as adamant that bunny travel with us or hug him under his arm every night, he is still an important part of his life.  The other day we were at the toy store and Cooper  wanted to spend his $20 from Grandma on a new bunny.  He named the bunny Diamond.  Something about Minecraft.  Of course.  He was also adamant that Diamond was a 'she'.

Other than the fact that both  my kids still like to get up at 7am, I've got no complaints.  There was a time that I though I would never sleep again.  Cooper didn't sleep through the night until he was well over a year and Grady wasn't much better.  After all those sleep deprived years, we are finally starting to catch up.  If they could just sleep in a touch later we'd catch up a lot quicker.

five on friday

{one}  Today I am featuring Michelle from MT Bottles over on the TBB.  Michelle and I grew up in the same town in Northern Saskatchewan but never knew each other.  She is {ahem} a few years younger than I.  Check out the post.

{two} We finally finished the 4th and final of Cooper's fillings this week.  I promised him a toy of his choice after the last appointment so off to Walmart it was, but not before Grady reminded him that he got a $100 Lego set after his one filling.  Oy.  We came home with a bunch of army stuff which doesn't surprise me at all.  The guns amused 3 boys for over an hour at soccer that night.

{three}  Speaking of soccer, it is in full swing.  Some days I have worn shorts and a tank top and others a tuque and scarf.  Seriously, can it not just pick a temperature and stay there?  As long as it is hot weather of course.

{four}  This week I also volunteered in Grady's classroom.  It was chaos at my station where we discussed chores the Acadians did instead of going to school.  Don't feel bad, I had to google it to.  My mom voice came out several times telling the kids (especially the boys!) to keep their butts in the chairs.  I have a new found respect for elementary school teachers.  Wow.

{five} After several phone battery fails I decide to take the plunge and get a new phone. I upgraded to the 6S and can I just say I love it.  Aside from the initial frustration of getting your new phone looking the same as the old one it has been great. I love the speed and the extra big screen....  Love!

Happy Friday friends! Hope it is a good one.

Style Perspectives 10: Sneakers, jeans and a blazer

Week 10 of the Style Perspective series with TBB brings us sneakers, jeans, and a blazer care of the lovely Carrie.  I had been pondering grabbing a pair of Converse sneakers since last year so this prompt was what finally pushed me to take the plunge and add them to my spring shoe collection.

I was very specific about which  one I wanted.  I love the All Star Shoreline version in white, so I went on a hunt for them.  There is a Shoe Company right by my house so it was my first stop.  Sigh... they didn't have my style.  I tried on a few for size reference and figured I would need a 7.5 or 8.  I hurried home and started looking online.  Not a single 7.5 at any store in Canada in white.  In the end, I ordered a size 7 and 8 and hoped that one of them would work.

They were delivered 2 days later (talk about fast!) and I am happy to report that the size 7 was a winner.  Score!!  I wore them around the house for a day or two to make sure they weren't too small and happily decided to wear them outside and make the sale final.  I literally wore them all weekend.

No regrets here.  I wish I would have bought the shoes earlier.  I love the way they dress down the blazer and tee and I also plan to wear them with my chambray dress.

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I love them so much I am already thinking about what color I would like to add to my collection.  Me thinks mint.

Here is a recap of what how the gals at TBB styled leggings and a scarf last week!

Next week we are styling a graduation outfit.  I am going to do a loose interpretation of this prompt since it will be a solid 10 years until I need an outfit to wear to a graduation, but you may be treated to a few graduation photos of yours truly that will be worth the visit!

ONCE UPON A TIME & HAPPILY EVER AFTER : Library-Lovin’-Lady

DAILY STYLE FINDS: The Personal Stylist

FOXY’S DOMESTIC SIDE: The Crafty Engineer

SIMPLY SHAUNACEY: Reformed Frumpy Mommy

TWO TEENS AND THEIR MAMA: Stylish Midlife Mama

RSQUARED: The Not So Nerdy Accountant

SHOES TO SHIRAZ: The Shoe Hoarding French Teacher

PUPPIES AND PRETTIES: Cube Dwelling Fashionista

MISHAPS AND MAYHEM OF SOLITARY LIFE: Single Girl, Simple Style

A LOVELY LITTLE WARDROBE: A Casual Petite

MAKING THE MOST OF EVERYDAY Classic Yet Current Over Forty

NICKANDNIK: Mama with Curves

LIVING ON CLOUD NINE: Blissful Fashionista

WHITNEY À LA MODE: A book-loving French Teacher

An InLinkz Link-up

Mother's Day and Mombies Unite

I am so honored to be guest posting over at Grumbling Grace today.  Abbie recently became a regular contributor to the Blended Blog and she is an IRL (in real life) friend of my IRL BFF Deena.  Any friend of Deena's is a friend of mine.  I love Abbie's blog. She has 2 young daughters and is always keeping it real.  Even though I have been through the stage of 2 in diapers, sleepless nights, and the terrible twos, I can still relate to everything post Abbie writes like it was yesterday.  If you have young children, you will love her ability to see the humor in the things that inevitably go wrong with 2 young babes in your presence all the time.

Today, I am posting about putting yourself first.  On making me a priority.  Do you ever feel like every thing you do is for someone else?  Your kids?  Your husband?  Your job?  It's time to make time for yourself.  Pop on by to Grumbling Grace to see some of the ideas I have for making time for yourself.

It is fitting that my guest post was chosen for the day after Mother's Day.  A day when your kids take the time to thank you for all you do for them.  A day that your husband cooks for the first day in weeks, or in our case, makes a reservation so I don't have to cook.  A day where your friends text to wish you a Happy Mother's Day because they are thinking of you.  A day that a Mother is made to feel special.

Or... a day where you spend the day being a Mom.  Yesterday was a typical busy day around our house starting with art class for the kids while James and I went for a run, followed by brunch with Nana, Grady's last hockey on one end of the city, and finally a birthday party at the other end for one of Cooper's friends.  It was a typical day in the life of our family, or maybe even busier.  While some years this may have bothered me that we didn't have the perfect celebration or even time to take a nice photo of me and the kids, this year I am content.

I feel blessed to be a mom, to have a mom, a mother in law, and a step mom in my life.  I have the best support system of friends in my life to help me navigate through parenthood while laughing, crying, and drinking copious amounts of wine.

My kids made me homemade gifts at school and my husband bought me flowers at Safeway when we were together grocery shopping because there was no point coming back to the grocery store later because we are here already.  Typical attitude of a busy parent.

Grady made me these felt flowers which I just happened to be at school when he made.

I also got this card, which may have been my fave by the way.

Makes the best chicken nuggets

Only one that gets me Gaterade

Tries to be a good Mother

Helps me with minus homework

Excellent at math

Really nice and generous.

Cooper drew a picture of me.  I do have a very faint month that doesn't show up in the photo, but look at my eyelashes, if only I those in real life.

Someday my house will be clean, quiet, and I'll have all the time in the world to relax but it won't be filled with the chaos and noise that currently lives in my home.  And you know what?  I like it just the way it is.  It doesn't take a special day to celebrate motherhood.  I celebrate it every day.

Currently Snap Chat addicts.

My thoughts on.... Minivans

You are either a minivan family.... or you aren't.  Many families absolutely refuse to be one that drives the minivan even if it makes your life easier. I thought I was one of those people to. It turned out I wasn't.

Let me tell you about how we ended up driving this beautiful Honda Odyssey off the lot almost 6 years ago.

I would have loved to show you an actual photo of my van, but let's be honest,it has not been to the car wash in months and may have more than a few dents and scratches.

If you do the math on when we got our mini van, it was a mere months before Cooper was born.  At the time we had 2 cars and with a growing family we knew we had to trade one in for something bigger.  Lord knows we weren't getting a double stroller in the trunk of our car.  Ironically it was James that was all for a mini van.  The biggest factor that led us to the van was so we could both park in the garage.  Gotta love sliding doors.  

There are so many families that park their cars on the street but we weren't going to be one of those families.  If we got an SUV  instead of a van one of us would have to vacate the garage and park on the driveway as you wouldn't be able to get a bucket seat in an SUV with both cars parked in our very tight garage.  We both knew it would be James since I would be the one toting the kids around which would secure my spot in the warm garage.  That was the single biggest reason that we decided to get the van and honestly I haven't looked back since.

After 5+ years of van driving, here is a list of pros and cons I've put together.

Pros:

• The kids have been able to get in and out of the van on their own since they were able to walk.
• You can open the side door from the key fob
• You can open your trunk with the key fob
• You have tons of space in the trunk for your 2 hockey bags and endless bags of groceries.  At the same time.
• You can pop up the back seat in the matter of seconds when you kid invites a friend over unexpectedly
• You can fit 7 of your girlfriends in the van for a road trip, after you vacuum up all the food that has fallen under the carseats that you have to take out.
• You don't get overly upset when you accidentally hit a post in the work parked.  For real.
• You don't get overly upset when you come back to your van and find a big white mark across the side of the door.
• You don't have to park in the farthest away spot because you don't want to get door dinged (James does this with his car).

Cons:

• It's still a van
• It's hard to park
• Our Odyssey gets suck on ice.  Even with winter tires.  While I think the feel of the Odyssey is one of luxury, I would get the Sienna next time just because it has AWD.  
• Somehow the van ended up mine.  James drives a 'man' car that is standard which I don't care to drive although I do like being a passenger.  Except when he drives it like a race car and I get car sick.  Getting dressed up to go out with your friends and then picking them up in a mini van is so not cool.

So there you have it, my all inclusive list of the good, the bad, and the ugly of driving a mini van.  In my eyes, the pros still out weigh the cons and we plan to drive our current van until it dies.  Then trust me, after 10+ years of driving the mini van, I will be doing a significant upgrade!

Style Perspective 9: Leggings and a Scarf

Welcome to week 8 of the Style Perspective series.  This week we are styling leggings.   I love leggings, who doesn't?    They are comfy and stylish at the same time.  Sometimes I have to remind myself to wear leggings casually since the majority of the time I wear leggings to work out.  I recently read about the term athleisure wear, have you heard of it?

Athleisure is a trend in fashion in which clothing designed for athletic workouts at a gymnasium, sometimes termed activewear, is worn outside of the gym to go to the office or shopping or other social occasions.^[1][2] Athleisure outfits are "yoga pants, tights and leggings"^[3]that "look like athletic wear" characterized as "fashionable, dressed up sweats and exercise clothing".^[4][5] The idea is that "gym clothes are making their way out of the gym and becoming a larger part of people's everyday wardrobes"

While I have been doing this for years, i didn't know there was a formal word for it.  Wikipedia knows everything....

I decided to put the athleisure trend to work for this weeks prompt and style these onzie traditionally athletic pants for both casual and active wear.

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Have you tried onzie pants? They are great, more reasonably priced, active wear pants than lululemon. I used to only buy Lulu then I started realizing there were other really great brands out there that were just as good as lulu.  Maybe better.  My only complaint is that the material is a touch slippery.  This can be a good thing as they are very light weight and dry quickly, but it also means a righter shirt can ride up and you constantly have to pull it down.  So... you have to wear a looser shirt with these pants.

Back to athleisure.

A few weeks ago a friend and I ventured to Willow Stream Spa in Banff for a day of pampering.  I paired my wild leggings with a grey tunic, a long jacket and a scarf.  In retrospect, 'i wish I would have paired it with my white scarf.  What you can't tell from the picture is that i wearing purple glasses.

A few days later I wore the same pants to date spin night with my hubby, trading out the tunic for a lulu sports bra and bright tank.  If you've ever been to a spin class at a studio, you know that some of the outfits are pretty wild!

Wearing the same pants out casually and to workout in isn't something that comes naturally.  It is like my closet is compartmentalized.  One section for work, one for casual, and one for working out.  I could really expand my wardrobe if I wouldn't draw such dark lines around each section.  Maybe, just maybe, I will remove the boxes completely some day. For now, baby steps.

Here is a recap of what how the gals at TBB styled plaid!

I may have gone online that night and purchased 5 plaid items after being inspired by all the beautiful plaid last week.  I ended up keeping only this navy gingham shirt.  But when I wore it to work yesterday I got tons of compliments.

I was concerned that it was too cowboy looking but apparently I pulled it off!  Yay me!

Next week we are styling a blazer with sneakers.  I may have to venture out and buy the converse sneakers I have been coveting for some time....

ONCE UPON A TIME & HAPPILY EVER AFTER : Library-Lovin’-Lady

DAILY STYLE FINDS: The Personal Stylist

FOXY’S DOMESTIC SIDE: The Crafty Engineer

SIMPLY SHAUNACEY: Reformed Frumpy Mommy

TWO TEENS AND THEIR MAMA: Stylish Midlife Mama

RSQUARED: The Not So Nerdy Accountant

SHOES TO SHIRAZ: The Shoe Hoarding French Teacher

PUPPIES AND PRETTIES: Cube Dwelling Fashionista

MISHAPS AND MAYHEM OF SOLITARY LIFE: Single Girl, Simple Style

A LOVELY LITTLE WARDROBE: A Casual Petite

MAKING THE MOST OF EVERYDAY Classic Yet Current Over Forty

NICKANDNIK: Mama with Curves

LIVING ON CLOUD NINE: Blissful Fashionista

WHITNEY À LA MODE: A book-loving French Teacher

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