My thoughts on... Apple Watch

This past Christmas, James surprised me with an Apple watch.  I was shocked, I had  mentioned it in passing and he told me it was stupid and I forgot about it.  On Christmas morning Grady ran over to give me a gift and I didn't even get suspicious when he started filming it.  If I wasn't so lazy I would find the video and post it, but alas, it is no longer on my phone.  I spent a better part boxing day getting it charged and synced to my phone.  Something they always tell you is going to be easy but never is.

So, I've been wearing my watch every day for almost 4 months which I think is more than enough time to give my honest opinion.  In no particular order, here are some of my thoughts on the apple watch.

1.  My favorite feature by far is the find my iPhone button.  I hit it and my phone beeps.  I no longer have to find James and use his find my iPhone app, which happened more often then I care to admit.  Cooper tells me I should at least try to look for my phone before I hit the button, but feel that is just wasted time...

2.  I love that you can change straps.  I don't love the fitness strap for work so I hit up Amazon to find a new work one.  Now I have 3 extra straps which I love but my fave is the animal print one.  While searching for the photos I came across an camo print one that may have ended up in my cart for later....

3.  I don't love it from a fashion perspective.  I used to wear bracelets and now the watch seems to have replaced that.  I try to throw on a bracelet but the watch sits high on my arm and the bracelet lower on my wrist.  I'm still coming to terms with the watch has replaced the bracelet.  At least my new straps are fun.

4.  I no longer miss phone calls.  I used to miss calls all the time.  My phone would be buried in my purse and I would never feel the vibration of the ring.  I never have volume on.  Ever.

5.  On the flip side, I never miss any text or email either.  I have no self control, my wrist vibrates and I check it.  In the 'old days' my phone would be sitting on the table unattended for hours and I would have no idea if I had texts or not.  I don't always respond right away, but I do always glance at them and this proves to sometimes be a distraction and a time waste when I run to find my phone using the find my iPhone button on the watch.  See point 1 above.  Ha!

6.  I love that you can customize what is on the face of your phone.  I've chosen to display the weather, the activity app, my messages, and the battery life.

7.  The fitness app is what I use my watch for the most.  Like very single day.  Multiple times.  I had a fit bit way back when and after a year it broke and I never replaced it.  While I loved the social aspect of competitions and such that the fit bit offered I hated how it was step focused.  Some days I would do weight training as my workout and I got absolutely no credit for it.  I felt like a failure on those days were I only got 7000 steps despite working out for an hour.

The Apple watch uses a ring system that tracks 3 things.

-Stand: To close this ring you need to stand for at least one minute during each of 12 hours

-Exercise:  To close this ring you need to record exercise for at least 30 minutes a day.  This includes all sorts of exercise, run, walk, stair climber, HIIT, yoga, and there is even an other option if your activity doesn't quite fit with the set activities.

-Move: To close this ring you need to meet a calorie burn that you set for yourself.  Mine is set to 500 per day which means I burn 500 calories higher than what my body burns just exisiting.  Essentially these are exercise calories.

While I can look at the steps I've taken, it isn't one of the goals of the day and I rarely look.

8.  Another feature of the apple watch is that is it water proof.  I have the series 3 and it says it is water proof but I am too chicken to try it.  If you have one and you've swam with it, let me know if I can trust it!

9.  The watch has a built in time that I use a lot for cooking macaroni and also for their time outs in their room.  Just keeping it honest.

10.  I love that I can answer my phone right into the watch.  I usually only do it when it is James and I continue to look for my phone after I answer, but it really guarantees I never miss a call.

I wasn't' sure that I was going to make it to 10 things, but I did, so I'm wrapping it up here!

Overall, I love my apple watch and I love how surprised I was to find one under the tree even after we agreed to not buy each other gifts this year....  I'm not sure I would have bought one for myself given I already have a Garmin watch for running, but I love that I can change the strap to suit my mood and that it has the extra abilities of texting and making phone calls that the Garmin still doesn't offer.

Though it isn't the watch for everyone, I feel like it is a great watch for me!

My thoughts on .... Natural Deodarant

I just recently learned that antiperspirant is bad for you.  Some may say I was living under a rock, but I seriously had no idea.  I've wearing the same Degree antiperspirant for years.  And more and more and more years. So many years I can't even count.  When I know that something is bad for me I have an overwhelming desire to get rid of it.  So there my quest for the perfect natural deodorant began.

I read Jillian Harris' post on deodorant and none of them spoke to me.  Can I just say that when I typed Jillian into google, Jillian Harris Deodorant popped up.  Can you imagine how many people have googled that blog post for it to pop up immediately.  Wow.

The ones she suggested were all expensive and none jumped out at me so I decided to just order one from Click and Collect to be picked up along with my weekly groceries.  The one I tried was the Green Beaver and it cost $7.99.

I got it and I started using it immediately.  It smelled like a typical deodorant, not mild at all, which is what I expected from a natural deodorant.  It seemed more than strong enough to camouflage what was to be my stinky pits.  I applied it liberally and off to work I went.

My biggest complaint about this deodorant was that it didn't dry, my armpits felt wet and I didn't like it.  About mid morning I reached in my shirt to touch my armpit and see how badly I smelled, it was not good.  I actually stunk.  I went to the gym and applied my degree deodorant in my bag before hitting the treadmill.  I was done.  I tried, it was stinky, it felt gross, and I was gave up after half a day.

I put the idea of natural deodorant behind me for a few weeks and forgot about it until Shaeffer from Shaeffer told me To blogged about Kopari Deodorant.  She kept referring to how good is smelled and that it worked.  I love the smell of coconut which is what led me to go to their website and see that they were an Allure 2017 winner.

I also LOVE that the website went through the process of detoxing your pits and what to expect.  As a natural deodorant newbie this was important to me.  Somewhere on the site I read that it would take 2 weeks to detox.  I can do anything for 2 weeks... right?

At a whopping $18 per stick I decided to wait until Sephora was 20% off and take the plunge.  That is 3X more than my Degree.  Wow.  I certainly hoped it was worth it.

My original plan was to wait until Christmas to detox happily at home with my family who love me even if I stink.  When the box arrived and I smelled the Kopari I decided to try it for one day just for a little preview.

I've worn it everyday since.  Every day.

It smells so good and goes on smooth.  It doesn't dry as quickly as Degree, but it does eventually dry.  I wore it the first day and while I felt like I could smell myself sometimes, I wasn't sure.  I took that as a good sign.  Even when I put my hand right in my armpit I wasn't certain I could smell BO.  

Every night when I took off my shirt  I would smell the pits and assess whether they stunk.  Truthfully, I don't think they did.  I asked James to smell one day and he said it smelled like perfume.  Well that is certainly not a bad thing.

While it was working great day to day, the real test was wearing it to exerice.  The first day was a little gross.  My armpits were slippery, it was a strange sensation that I wasn't used to.  I was sweating a lot.  I did the smell test a few times during the run, despite sweating a lot the smell wasn't terrible.  Let's just say I was expecting way worse.  During the first 2 weeks I was applying deodorant before exercising which I never used to do, more as a precautionary.  No one wants to be that girl at the gym that no one wants to exercise beside....  

I was also applying after the workout which I did even with Degree.  An interesting thing to note is that since I didn't want to buy 2 $18 deodorants, I moved the Green Beaver one to my gym bag.  After I had partially detoxed my body tolerated the cheaper deodorant way better.   So what they say is true, the first week or 2 is the worst but it does get better if you persevere.

Another thing I did was to use a charcoal bar on my pits in the shower.  I read that charcoal is known for detoxifying and I already had a Beauty Counter one at home that I generally use on my face.  I love the way my skin feels squeaky clean after I use it.  If you haven't tried one, you should!  After washing my armpits with the bar I just feel like they are so clean.  

So here we are 4 weeks later and I am still wearing Kopari deodorant and I have no plans to go back.  I've finally stopped smelling the pits of my shirts when I take them (for the most part) and only do a sniff check once a day if I remember or feel sweaty.  Not once did James or the kids tell me I stink and trust me they don't hold anything back.

One thing I didn't know that I wish I would have is that I didn't stop sweating after the detox, I just stopped smelling.  Sweating is natural and our body needs to do it and that was the problem with antiperspirant, it wasn't letting the toxins out.  I'm still getting used to the feeling of sweat in my arm pits but I must admit that I don't like it.  The good new is that I may be wet but I don't smell.

Since making the switch and telling a few people I realize how many people are really interested in learning about it and my experience with choosing which one to use and the truth about how much I stunk.  If you have any questions ask it in the comments and I'll be happy to share any more information with you.  

The truth is that the switch was way easier than I expected and I think I'm done with antiperspirant for good!

My Thoughts on..... Mother’s Day

I'm just going to put it out there. Mother's Day is not my favorite day.

For me, it is a day that comes full of expectations that don't exactly equal reality.  Let's face it, I have 2 young children who just aren't that into pampering Mom one day of the year.  I do get a happy mother's day but they are too young to understand the meaning of Mother's day.  Though I did get a gift full of toys from Grady's room which was sweet.  Neither of the kids did much of anything in school this year so I can't say I blame them for being a touch clueless.

For me, it seems that everyone is posting on social media about their perfect Mother's Day, their perfect kids along with their perfect husband.

Don't get me wrong, I love my family and husband, but at the end of the day, Mother's day is just another day in our busy life where, if I'm lucky, I don't have to cook supper.

It just seems to me that seeing all the 'perfect' posts on social media leads to unrealistic expectations that ultimately don't even come close to the reality of our day.

Expectation:  A sleep in.
Reality:  I actually got to sleep in this year.  I didn't hear the kids until almost 8 and they didn't come wake me so I didn't get up.  That was a pleasant surprise.  I'll take it!  I didn't surface until after 9am after having a quick chat with a great friend.

Expectation:  Time spent with my Mom.
Reality: Unfortunately, we don't live in the same city so had to settle for a chat over face time, which was honestly kind of nice.  I drank a cup of coffee with my sweaty mom that had just finished a run.  Because, that is the way we roll.  I miss not being able to celebrate with my own Mom.

Expectation:  A nice bike ride with my family was the only think I asked for this year.  A simple request, non?
Reality:  James' back hurt, Grady's knee hurt, and Cooper didn't want to bike ride at all.  We went anyway and the ride was longer than expected.  It was a 20k return trip.  Maybe a touch aggressive for our first ride of the season.  It was about 30 minutes too long for Cooper and at points I wasn't sure we were going to make it.  I, of course, was stuck at the back convincing Cooper to keep on pedaling.  Note to self, next year do the long bike ride solo!

Expectation:  A stop at the half way point to grab a quick coffee and snack.
Reality:  Everyone else had the exact same idea and the line up to the bakery was 30 minutes long.  We forgot our bike locks so James had to wait with the bikes.  After waiting and ordering, they missed James' coffee and gave us the wrong pizza for Grady.  They gave us a free coffee without having to hit up the line again but Grady lost his mind about the pizza and after settling down insisted that I remove every single tomato by hand.

Expectation:  A blizzard, the only day that I binge and eat an entire blizzard to myself guilt free.
Reality:  Our bike ride ran overtime so there was no time left to go for ice cream.  I made up for it with left over brownies and ice cream and an xlarge chocolate peanut butter egg leftover from Easter after the kids went to sleep.

At this point, my expectation for the rest of the day was bad.  And ironically, the second that my expectation plummeted, the day turned itself around and got pretty darn good.

Expectation: Set up the new patio set and enjoy an ice cold beer and clam
Reality: The patio furniture got set up in record time and I enjoyed two beer and clamato juice.  I've been waiting weeks to enjoy our new patio set.  We did some deck renos this month and when the stucco guy showed up this morning to finish the job I was thrilled. 

Expectation: To enjoy the evening sunshine on the patio
Reality: Enjoyed the evening on the patio watching the kids play soccer in the field with James.  Marla came over for a Mother's day dinner of pizza!  Good thing its my favorite!  WE didn't have time to go to the BBQ store to get the new cord extension so pizza it was!  Pizza and beer are 2 of my favorites.

This year, despite the rough start, I really enjoyed the day. No, it wasn't perfect, but it had its highlights.  The sun was shining, the kids were (mostly) happy, our deck is ready to enjoy, I got some cards from the kids, and I got to eat pizza!! 

If I had only a few more hours to the day I would have read my book on the deck, but thankfully, there is a whole lot of summer left to enjoy the deck.

I need to remind myself that to look past the imperfect part of my day and focus on the gestures that show me that my family loves and appreciates me every day and not just on Mother's day.  I am so fortunate to be surrounded by great Moms, step moms, mother in laws and friends that have always supported me in this gig they call parenting.

Happy Mother's Day!

My thoughts on.... Shopping for Bathing Suits

Buying a new bathing suit is the worst.

I have never once in my life felt like I wanted to go bathing suit shopping or looked forward to the process.  It is probably the only thing I don't look forward to buying and lord knows I like to shop!

With that being said, we have a beach vacation coming up and I wanted to get a new suit.  I didn't need one per se... but it is like when you go to a wedding and you want to buy a new dress.  If I am going to be living in my swimsuit for a week I wanted to feel good in it.

So what do I do when I decide I want to buy something?  I google the crap out of it and before you know it I have swimsuits galore showing up on the side of my screen all the time.  Does anyone else find that creepy?  I google something on my desk top and it starts showing up on my phone as well.  Big Brother is always watching.....

I was orginally going to order form Cupshe since there were several super cute ones at great prices but I couldn't pull the trigger.  Just like shoes, I didn't feel comfortable ordering online unless I could easily return.  I kind of pushed the idea aside since I still had time before our trip.

In the past, I've come home with new suits when I least epected it.  Once time I was walking through Nordstrom and saw a suit I just had to have, I tried it on and bought it.  There was no anticipation or dread around the process since it was unplanned.  That is the best time to buy, even if you don't need one soon. Trust me, if you set out looking for a specific item, you never find it.  Not looking for something.... and you'll find 7!

Some of my favorite brands of bathing suits are Trina Turk and most recently, Nanette Lepore.

Once again, I unexpectedly tried on and bought not one, but two, bathing suits in one outing.  My theory is when you find a swimsuit you buy it now because actually liking a swimsuit doesn't happen often, even if it means buying two!

I was in La Vie En Rose over my lunch break buying underwear and I thought I'd stroll through the swimsuit area since there were 2 suits that I had eyed up online that I really liked.  What do you know... they had both of them in stock, so what the heck, I tried them on.  Over my nylons. I think it made my legs look better and may have contributed to me liking them so much!  Without further a due, here are the 2 suits I walked out with.

Suit 1:

I call both suits I got 'vacation' bathing suits.  Aka, I would never wear them in the city at the pool with the kids where I may run into someone I know.  They are kind of sexy, non?  They don't scream public swim to me.  I prefer to wear them at the beach where I see no one I know and I am hopefully reading a book on the lounger rather than swimming in the wave pool or going down the water slides.  I have full coverage suits for that!

Suit 2:

What makes this one a vacation suit is the possibility of a boob popping out.  For reals.  When you swim with kids they pull at everything and I can just see one of the kids yanking the front of this bad boy down.  Full coverage but not enough support to be worn for an 'active' swim.

I do pack bikinis for vacation, again, where I won't see anyone I know.  After I had kids I took it as an excuse that I never had to wear a 2 piece swim suit ever again.  However, the more I went on beach vacations the more I realized that there was no reason for me to not wear one.  There are all shapes and sizes on the beach wearing swimsuits of all sizes and there was no reason that I shouldn't wear one.... with that being said, I feel way more comfortable in a one piece so I try to find 'sexy' ones that make me feel good with out showing my tummy.

What is your go to swimsuit style?

My thoughts on.... Skiing

We just celebrated family day long weekend which is apparently the biggest skiing weekend of the season given that it is the only other winter long weekend other than Christmas which is probably just as busy!

We were NOT on the ski hill this weekend because quite honestly, I don't really enjoy it, with or without kids.

Let me give you some background.  I grew up in Saskatchewan which is as flat as flat can be.  My only experience with down hill skiing growing up was in elementary school where we did one ski trip to Table Mountain, essentially a big hill.  Yes, I loved it for that one day but after that I never went again until University.

Let's just say that what I remember about that trip has nothing to do with skiing.....

Fast forward a few years when i first moved to Calgary and started articling, they hosted an annual ski weekend.  Of course I was going to go... what a great way to meet all the people and to reacquaint myself with the ski hill.

I am a green skier.

For those that don't know, that is the easiest run you can do besides the bunny hill.  I do fine on green.  I can do my pizza's (skis angled) and my fries (skis straight) down the green slopes and even maybe enjoy myself a little.  Yet, it seemed every year I went on this trip someone would convince me to go on a blue that was 'easy' and I would end up stuck on the hill in near tears wanting to take my skis off and walk down. 

After a few of these runs, I gave up skiing, I just didn't like it enough to keep trying.  I gave it up for over 10 years and it wasn't until 2 years ago that I put skis on again.

When I started working at my current job they had a ski day. You go to the ski hill or you spend the day in the office.  Easy choice!  I got free lessons and I stuck to green runs only, no exceptions.  The best part of skiing is the apres ski that must involve nachos and beer!

Next, enter the kids.  Unlike me, my kids are growing up where the nearest ski hill is less than an hour away.  Heck, there is one right in the city less than 15 minutes from our house.  Our kids need to know how to ski.

We waited until they were both old enough to learn together and that magic age for us was 4 and 6.  We started with the lessons in the city for 2 years than graduated to a ski trip with friends and half day lessons. Finally this year we skipped the lessons and just skied together for the day.  What is it like to ski with kids you ask, well let me tell you.

1) They are always cold.  Fingers, toes, nose, you name it, if it is exposed, it is cold.  This applies to me as well.

2) They have to go to the bathroom at the most inconvenient times, like as you are about to get on the chair lift.

3) You need to pack more than double what you usually do in case something is loss, which is bound to happen.

4) It takes quadruple the amount of time to get on the hill since they can't do anything themselves and your husband has decided he will park the van while you dress the kids.  Let me tell you... parking the van is the easier job.

5) There will be tears.  The first time we went this year Cooper cried the whole way up the chair lift because he was scared to get off it, not because he was scared to ski.

6) It is expensive. We are the family that claims that our 7 year old is 5 to get him a free lift ticket.

7) Repetition.  Grady only wants to go on one run the whole time, usually the first one he tries.

8) They are already better skiers than me.  They end up waiting for me at the bottom of the hill, especially if we hit a blue part by accident.

9) A half day is more than enough.  Usually 2 full runs is enough for me but since it is so expensive I force myself to stay out there at least 2 hours.

10) You will need booze after.  Whether it be hot chocolate and baileys or beer or wine.  Skiing with kids is a lot of work and gosh darn it you earned it!

Overall, we are still learning how to make ski trips easier, for example we now know NOT to keep your boots in the car.  We learned the hard way that this makes your boots hard to get on.  I also now know to bring in the kids boots because once they are done skiing they want their boots off immediately!  I have now learned that I would like to park the van while James gets the kids ready in the lodge.  That job is hard enough to make me not ever want to ski again!

As the kids get older and we get better at the process I'm sure I'll find more enjoyment in it.  But for now.... I prefer the apres ski way more then being on the hill. It is a reward for surviving the afternoon.  Once the kids move on to blue runs I am 99% sure I am going to be the lodge mom with a hot chocolate and a book!

Any tips?  Send them my way, I can use all the help I can get!

My thoughts on.... Losing

Cooper's team is on a losing streak.  They had their very first hockey tournament this past weekend and we lost all 4 games.  All four games.  It was at this point that we started to think back to when we last won a game...  It turned out it was the first week of December.  We hadn't won a game in 2 months.

This is a first for our family.  For 3 years, Grady has been on a winning team.  Last season I remember when we hit a 10 game winning streak and the whole team got Slurpee's for their win.  The coach had a deal with them that if they won 15 games in a row he'd wear a suit on the bench.  Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

Being on the losing side has a taught me a few things.

The parents care more than the kids.  It was the parents talking in the stands about wanting to win a game.  It was the parents that realized that it had been a long time since our last win.  It was the parents that were disappointed after each game that we lost.  The kids hustled out of the dressing room asking if they could go to the pool.

The loss is easily forgotten.  For my kids at least.  While they may be sad on the ice and in the dressing room, by the time they hop in the van all they care about is what is for dinner!

The kids play their hardest no matter what the score.  Cooper played great this weekend.  We are quickly realizing that Mr. Coop is a defense man.  He doesn't care about the final score, all he cares about is protecting the net, whether the game is close or not.

They won't remember the score, they will remember the fun.  This weekend we spent in Golden, staying at a hotel with all the other families.  Swimming, running loose around the hotel, playing vids, playing mini sticks and hiding out from the parents in various rooms.  The kids won't remember what the score was but they will remember who did the best canon ball into the pool!

I use my bell more on a losing team.  When we are on a winning team I choose only to use my cow bell on the first goal or two and then I put it away.  I don't like to be that obnoxious parent that doesn't take the other teams feelings into account.  On Cooper's team I ring that bell for every single goal.  Those kids deserve it.  They work so hard for everyone of them!  I ring it on saves, on goals, and at the end. We are that team.

Our coaches are superb. Win or lose, our coaches support the team.  They are encouraging and positive, win or lose.  From the spectator benches I can see the coaches giving each player pep talks, high fiving them after a good shift and pouring water into their mouths when the players are thirsty.  It is clear that these coaches develop bonds with the kids and vice versa.  I've had more than one of he coaches tell me how much Cooper has improved this season or to email me after a practice and tell me how hard 'Coopman' is working.

First penalty!

Winning is extra sweet.  Last night after a 2 month losing streak we won a game.  You better believe that I was ringing my bell in full force.  We were being crazy hockey moms and it was much deserved.  We were joking that we felt we needed to go over and tell them we weren't crazy, just super excited to finally win a game!  It was smiles all around after a well deserved win.

It's hard to score.  When you are a first year player and you play on team that doesn't win all that much, it is really hard to score.  We have a handful of second year players that score 90% of our goals which is great, but part of the fun of the sport when you are young is scoring the goals.  Since Cooper is turning into a defenceman, he rarely plays forward which means even fewer opportunities to score.  Now that he is getting so much praise for guarding the net he isn't as eager to play forward or score the goals.  He is more into stopping them and I must say he does it well!

In the end, yes, it is nice to win, nobody likes to lose, but not winning doesn't make our season any less exciting.  Cooper has made some excellent friends, ones I hope that he gets to play with in the years to come.  We have a great group of parents and coaches and I will be just as sad to see this season end as I am every season, even the winning ones.

My thoughts on.... Staying Fit

I'm having a busy week. No busier than any other week but I've been filling my evenings with important things like buying new Christmas ornaments for our sencond tree.... So, I found this post in my drafts that I send to Deena in September of 2015 which I assume she posted on her blog.  I don't actually remember, but I'm pretty sure I didn't post it here.  So here it is 2 years later and I still feel the same way.

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Before kids, exercising was easy.  I had the time and I didn't need to find childcare to make it to the gym.  After I had kids, finding excuses became easy as I had such little free time and the last place I wanted to be was the gym.  However, fitness has been a priority in my life since I lost 75 pounds in my late teens and kept it off for almost 20 years.  So although it wasn't always easy to be active, I worked hard to make it an important part of my life.  I think I am a better person, mother, wife, and friend because of it.

I've come up with a few ideas on how you can work extra activity into your typical day as well.

{one } Choose a time when you don't have to worry about childcare.  Personally, I go the gym over my lunch hour at work since I am a working parent.  That way when I get home from work I don't have to squeeze it into my already busy schedule.  I have 2 boys in hockey after all....  Some other ideas include when the kids are in school, after the kids go to bed, or getting a membership where there is a good childcare facility.

I think it is also important to recognize that the optimal time for exercise may change as your family's schedule changes.  Before kids I was a morning exerciser, but after kids I needed every extra second of shut eye so I adjusted my schedule accordingly.  I tried exercising after the kids went to bed but I was too tired and was finding many excuses to skip it, that is when I adjusted to lunch exercising and I find it is the best time of day energy wise for me.

{two} Put it in your schedule.  If you do this, you'll plan around your exercise schedule.  If someone asks you for coffee or dinner and you have it in your calendar to exercise you can suggest an alternate date.  I currently have a personal trainer and we meet every Wednesday and Friday over lunch, I also signed up for lunch hour yoga on Thursdays.  So if I want to go for lunch, I do not plan it on those days.

{three} Find something you like.  For years, I only did cardio.  I ran on the treadmill or went on the stepper every single time.  About 18 months ago I tried my first group exercise and LOVED it.  I really regret not trying it sooner.  Right now I love Barre and Spin. It doesn't feel like a chore to go at all.  I look forward to it.  Going back to point 3, I have it in my schedule that my hubby and I go to spin every Monday night.  Yes, sometimes life gets in the way, but then we try to reschedule.

Best cardio ever!

{Four}  Change it up. When I first started exercising, I only did step aerobic, years and years of step aerobics.  Then when I moved into an apartment I switched to running on the treadmill and stayed with that for years.  In the past 18 months, I've tried so many group exercises I've lost count.  I've incorporated free weights into my workout and I feel so much stronger.  The more things you try, the higher the chance you'll find something you love.

{five}  Join a gym.  I have been exercising almost daily since I was 17, I joined my first real gym this year and wish I would have done it so much sooner.  I was very intimidated by the gym as I had only worked out at home or at my office gym.  I thought everyone at the real gym would be fit and in better shape than me.  I was wrong.  Yes, the gym is intimidating the first time you go but once you get in your own routine it is so worth it.  The number of classes and different equipment that you have at your disposable is crazy compared to at home where it is very limited. The variety keeps your workouts interesting and challenging.

{six} Find a gym buddy.  Not only does having a buddy make it more fun, but it also keeps you accountable.  I have a gym buddy at work that checks in with me every day to see what class we are doing that day at lunch.  I have not been to the mall over lunch since I joined the gym in June, almost 4 months ago.  That is music to my hubby's ears I am sure.

My fave exercise buddy is my Mom.  She is WAY stronger than me.

I also have a friend that instead of going for dinner or out for drinks, we go for a walk.  Our walk can sometimes be well over an hour depending on how much we have to catch up on.  We have been doing this for over 10 years and it is a highlight of my month.  While we used to go every week pre husbands and kids, we now go at least once a month.  We've had to adjust the frequency but the important part is that we've kept it up.

{seven} Set attainable goals.  When you start a new exercise program, don't set an unrealistic goals, set something that you can actually do.  After my kids were born, I set my goal at exercising 3 times a week.  That seemed attainable to me.  While I would have liked to exercise more, I knew that I would be setting myself up for failure.   This is also true when it comes to food.  Don't tell yourself you are going to stop eating gluten, instead commit to removing gluten from a certain meal a day.  Set yourself up for success!

{eight} Buy new exercise wear.  When I was reading these tips to my hubby he didn't understand this one and I had to explain it to him.  If you have exercise wear you like and feel good in, you are more likely to wear it and exercise.  Also, you can set a goal and reward yourself with new workout wear.  For example, if you exercise 3 times a week for a month you buy yourself a new exercise top, or entire outfit.  This is my personal favorite tip and one I stand by .  Some of my favorite brands are lululemon, onzie, zella, and believe it or not, Forever 21.

Perfect bra and top for Hot Barre.

{nine}  Make lifestyle changes.  There are so many fad diets out there these days and yes they may make you lose weight quickly, but the odds are high you will revert back to your old ways post diet as they are too extreme to continue. Make food and exercise choices that you can maintain in the long run.  For me, I am more likely to reduce my sugar intake long term than I am to eliminate it.  That just ain't gonna happen.

{ten} Think strong instead of skinny.  For years I just wanted to be skinny, I was thin and but not strong.  My new goal is be strong.  I may weigh more, but I have more muscle and feel fit.  Or so that is the goal.  I need to be strong to lift those hockey bags into the van and to get all the groceries in the house in one trip.  Just because one is skinny does not mean that they are in shape.  I want to be healthy and to be able to keep up with my kids which is always a challenge.  Where do kids get the energy??

I hope that you have taken away at least one tip that will help you be more active in your everyday life.  Life is busy, full of commitments from work, kids, and other obligations, but we owe it to ourselves to make our health a priority.  Sometimes we fall off the wagon, and that is perfectly fine, as long we always find the strength to get back on.

My thoughts on.... growing up

When you have a baby, you are in control.  Ultimately, you decide when the baby eats, sleeps, and know every movement that your baby makes.

Then, you go back to work.

You wonder all day what your baby is doing.  What they ate, how long they slept, how many times the pooped (for real!), how much he cried....  You lose a little control.  Even at the ripe 'ol age of 1 my baby had a life without me.

Then, your baby starts school.

They spend their entire day in a classroom full of other kids doing a variety of things that you never hear about.  Especially if you have non-talkers like I do.  I really have to pry out anything about their day.  For the most part we play a little game where everything tells 3 things about their day.  Including the adults.

Then, they want to go to the park by them selves.

When we moved there was a park behind our house and down a path where they did not have to cross a street.  So we allowed them to walk to the park and play for 20ish min before we headed over to check on them. This was huge.  Not only could I not see them, but they weren't even being supervised by an adult.  They aren't babies anymore.

Then, they want to bike to the school park with their friends.

This is where I put my foot down.  You are growing up too fast!  Until you can bike with me and show me that you are safe you can't go.  We set up a few guidelines that he had to meet before he was allowed to go.

1.  He had to know my cell phone number.  He learned it in 15 minutes.

2.  He had to be brave enough to ask an adult to use their phone.

3.  He had to have a plan of what to do if someone got injured or sick.

We let him go once and thankfully he never asked to go again, yet.

My mom always told me little kids, little problems and big kid, big problems.  I am really starting to see this.  In our case, medium kids, medium problems!  I find it hard to let my kids out on their own.  It isn't something that I am used to doing.  I want them to be safe, but I want them to also learn how to be responsible. I feel like we are stuck in this middle zone where sometimes I feel like they are ready and sometimes they aren't.

Independence.  It is learned and we have to let our kids make mistakes and trust them to use the knowledge we gave them.

But it isn't easy.

This week was a new test for us as we sent Grady off to his first sleep away camp.

His bags weighed more than he did.

We packed up everything he could possibly need any more. From a bathing suit and shorts to his winter jacket and rain gear.  He ended up using it all minus the winter jacket! We have only been on one camping trip as a family. One.  And at 10pm on the first night Grady found me and told me that he didn't feel safe there.  Oy.  And here I was sending my oldest away for 2 nights on his own with 50 other 9 year olds.

This was his first time ever sleeping away from us other than when the grandparents have watched him.  As a parent it is scary to send your kid out into the world and not know what they are doing.  The teachers said that no news is good news.  I dropped him off on Monday morning and picked up a wet, cold, but happy kid last night.

The teachers posted many pictures of the kids on their twitter feed and we had a few parents there that were texting us pictures of what the kids were up to.
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What an accomplishment it was for both of us.  Grady survived his first nights away from Mom and Dad with no tears.  And I realized that our boy is growing up and that it is okay to let go a little.

My thoughts on... training for a 1/2 marathon

 

I am officially 9 weeks into my training program program and it has been much MUCH harder than I expected.  Not only is the running itself hard, but so is finding the time to actually do the run. I am finding myself taking days off work to run which seems absolutely crazy to me.  Let me back up a bit....

Until the training started, I rarely ever ran more than 5 or 6 kilometers which took me about 35 minutes.  There was a time in my life (more than a decade ago!) that I ran every day.  Every. Single. Day. My body did not like it.  I developed Patellofemoral Syndrome which is essentially knee pain from overuse.  I had to stop running altogether and then slowly increase the intervals between walking and running. It took months to recover and I never wanted to get it again.

I love running.

I know, it sounds odd.  But running is like cheap therapy for me.  It clears my mind.  I listen to music, I enjoy nature, I am just me.  A sweaty version of me.  I didn't ever want to not be able to run, so I started to cut back.  I kept my runs to 20 minutes and I never ran more than 9 consecutive minutes before taking  break.

Even with these precautions, I now have IT band issues.  The right side of my body fights long distance running.  I get a pulling on the side of my knee.  Not a pain per se as I can run through it but I am aware that something isn't right. If I run through it long enough, my knee breaks down and I have to take a running break.

Training for this race properly is so important to me.   My ultimate goal in running the race is to finish uninjured.  Yes, it would be nice to finish in less than 2h 15min but if I finish it without walking more than my 1 minute intervals I am going to be very proud of myself.

I am at the point in my training where the runs are getting long, like really long.  I ran 11km by myself in about 70 minutes and I was bored.  Since then, I've always ran with a buddy. I started to wonder how I was ever going to run double that on my own.

Luckily, I have 3 other friends are training for a 1/2 at the same time so there is usually someone to run with.

But... there is always a but...  I AM THE SLOWEST RUNNER.

So, I have to manage running at my own pace so I don't get injured and wanting to train at 9 minute run and 1 minute walk intervals.  Up to 10km I will run straight just to have some company, but as I got into the longer runs I had to make my knee a priority and stick to the 9:1 intervals.

Thankfully, 1 of the gals would rather run intervals than on her own so we have done 2 long runs together using my system.  Not to mention the other 2 gals like to run before 7am on the weekend and we are more like 9am runners.  I just can't bring myself to set my alarm on the weekend to run for over 1.5 hours.  Boo!

A few weeks ago we ran a 14km run and my knee felt great.  I felt successful and hopeful that I could do this.  My body was cooperating and I only had to run 7 more km to get to the 21.1km race distance.

Then I ran 16km the following weekend.  The last 2 km were hard.  Harder than I ever imagined.  It was like my body started to give up. I slowed down, my legs were tired, and when at 15.9 km I had a sharp pain go up the back of my knee I panicked.  I immediately stopped running and started to walk.  I felt so discouraged.  What if I couldn't finish those last 5km.  I just want to finish.  It was the first time in the training process that I started to question whether I could do this.   5km doesn't sound like much but at the time it felt unattainable.

After this run I took a break week and participated in the Stampede Road race.  I stuck to my intervals and didn't push myself too hard. I finished 5 minutes slower than my time last year but still in under an hour which I am considering a win.

This past weekend, I was terrified to attempt the next long run knowing how horribly I felt when I ran 16 km.   As I approached the 16km mark I was nervous.  I could feel the pulling in my knee but it wasn't a pain thankfully.  We ran a total of 17.4 km with only minor aches pain.  Nothing a little rolling can't fix.  And maybe a little physio!  It turned out the next day I wasn't sore at all.

If you asked me right now if I want to do another I would say no.

I am finding it time consuming, especially during the summer.  From now until September long I am away every single weekend.  I have been taking days off work to run.  It isn't a simple little 30 minute jaunt.  It takes about 3 hours round trip once I pick up a friend, drive to our running location, run, get home, stretch and shower.  I'm finding it really hard to keep up.  For me, it has taken the fun out of running.  I enjoy running and want to keep it up for many years.  My fear is that if I continue to push my body beyond what it is comfortable with that it may cut my running career short.

I am going to do this 1/2 marathon and I am going to run my butt off.  Then I am going to go back to shorter runs.  Ones that I can do anytime, anywhere and enjoy fully.

My thoughts on... Moving

We survived.  I repeat, we survived!

Dare I say, it wasn't as bad as I thought?  I say that now, but if you would have asked me on Saturday I would have told you it was a terrible experience.  Even Cooper said he was never moving again and he is only 6.

You see, I don't like to think I am too A-type but when 65 boxes were dumped in my new house, the A-type in my took over.  I stayed up until 2am on Friday because I couldn't go to bed until my kitchen was in order!

The kitchen is missing a floating island that has to be off the floor for 1 week.

We were fortunate in that we didn't take a lot with us.  We furnished our old house well over 10 years ago and haven't updated anything since, so we I decided to update most of our furniture while we were at it. #expensive

We ordered this set in December before we bought our house and then we waited and waited then waited some more.  Finally in April, after we bought, the couches arrived.  I made them hold them and they delivered them on Saturday!  Exactly the same as our old ones (per James' request) except grey instead of blue.

Everything is moved away from the wall so the new baseboards can be painted....

The view gets me every time.  We back onto a green space and I have been sitting at the kitchen table with my coffee and laptop each morning in the sunshine.  I could get used to this...

    

I targeted the main floor first, emptying so many boxes, collapsing them and putting them in the garage like they will magically disappear if I can't see them.  Saturday it felt like a job that will never end.  By the end of Monday we are 80% unpacked.  The only things not unpacked are the office contents.  You see the desk isn't put together yet since it is hard to move once assembled and the baseboards only went on Saturday morning and then are getting painted tomorrow.  I have to live with the office boxes scattered around the main floor while the renos continue...

This photo was taken Monday morning and by the end of the day we were left with a bouncy castle we have to get rid of since we can't anchor it in our turf backyard and the shelving units we pulled down from the basement scrap booking room turned spare room.  Sorry if you are a scrapbooker.

 

Let's talk about moving with kids at 6 and almost 9.  They did so good.  They were involved in the buying of our house.  After looking at house for 2 years, they knew the drill.  They would head to the basement and check out the mini stick are while I would head to the bedroom to check out the closet.   #priorities.

They were so excited to take our new walk to school that we left at 8:30 am and arrived at school a solid 15 minutes early.  Thankfully it was a sunny Monday morning.   I was so happy to be able to walk with them on the first day.

 

Another huge pro to moving with kids at this age was a huge toy purge.  Our kids are not that into toys anymore.  They like their fidget spinners, their sporting goods, and their video games.  We did a huge purge and boy did it feel good!

Yesterday I spent the day organizing the storage room and labeling everything.  I have a few bins to buy and  then I'm done in here.

 

With buying new furniture comes empty rooms and mismatched furniture.  Our dining room chairs arrived on Saturday yet our table won't be here until July!

 

Overall it went good.  Better than I hoped.  I'm confident with our decision and love it more than the first time we looked at it 3 months ago.  We made changes to make it ours right off the bat, the floors, the walls, the railing (happening next week!), the furniture, come to think of it, we did almost everything!  During the past month I was a big stress ball but now that we are in the house it was SO worth it.  Ideally it would have been nice to get it all done before we moved in, life doesn't always go as planned.

The new owners moved into our old house yesterday.

I expected to be super emotional as I left the house Monday morning and locked the door but truthfully, it didn't affect me like I expected.  I looked around at my empty house that I lived in for so long and it didn't feel like home anymore.  I had just spent the entire weekend decorating our new house with all our stuff and watching our kids enjoy our new home.  I realized that we didn't leave the memories behind in the house, we took them with us.  

Our home is now our current home.

It has our stuff, our beds, our pictures, our people.  Home isn't the walls themselves but the people within them.  Once our stuff was gone and the house was empty, it just wasn't as sad to leave.

My final thoughts?  It was 100% worth it.  #noregrets

My thoughts on.... being project manager

I tried to do a five of Friday post and all I had to talk about was house related items.  So instead on this bright and shiny spring morning we will talk about the Project Manager role that I have been doing that has been dominating all my free time for the past 2 weeks.

When we initially bought the house we knew we wanted to refinish the floors.  They were an orangey oak and really worn looking.  They needed a makeover.  We also figured we should paint while we were at it.  Floors and paint renos before we move in, I can handle that.

Within a week, James mentioned that we would also like to take down the popcorn ceilings and make it paint grade, aka flat.  I argued with him that no one ever walks into a house and say what nice ceilings you have.  The railing on the other hand is a focal point in the house and something I thought would make a drastic difference when you first walk in.

James' argument was that the ceilings can only really be done before you move in and that I agree with, especially after seeing how big of a mess it made! You would never subject your house filled with furniture to the mess that happens when you scrape all the popcorn off your ceiling, trust me.

So, before we knew it our simple little house make over turned into a minor renovation.  Not to mention that since we were doing the ceiling we opted for new lighting in the kitchen/family area and new baseboards since we had to take them down for the floors.

Our renos spiraled out of control.

Had I known at the beginning that our simple reno was going to explode into such a project I would have hired a project manager to handle it, but alas, that didn't happen.  Someone had to step up to the job, and that that person, sadly, was me.

You'll remember how stressed I was when we had 'contractor day' day at the house last month, well times that by 1000 and that is how I have been feeling every day since the contractors started.  From lining up the contractors, to having all the decisions made, to making sure they will all be done by the time we moved in.

I finally realized last week that in order to minimize the stress I needed to move our railing reno to after we move in which means a few nights slept in the basement with the kids.  As soon as I made that decision I breathed a large sigh of relief.

Most recently, we decided on a paint color.  The color the designer chose was just too dark after seeing it painted on the wall so we were back to the drawing board.  We had exactly 24 hours to pick the paint before we started holding the painter up.    I spent the night scouring Pinterest and reading about undertones of the various grays out there.  I picked a few of the most popular grays and just hoped that one of them would work.  We have a winner....

All the paint is Benjamin Moore, left to right:

1.  Revere Pewter

2. Gray owl

3. Balboa mist

4. Sandy Hook Gray

5. Stonington Gray

Funny story about the paint.  The color we ended up choosing was one I like from the beginning from my research on a 'safe' gray.  One that my MIL and many friends have used and loved in their places.  The designer felt that it looked green in our house based on a very small paint chip.  When I was choosing these colors in I added in that color as a backup in case we didn't like the others.  When the painter texted the picture I immediately knew the one that I was leaning to and go figure, it was the 'safe' color that I had chosen way back when.

What color was it you ask?  Revere Pewter, shown far left above.

The paint was especially stressful for me since there are way to many colors to choose from and will be on the walls for the unforeseeable future.  It felt like a huge decision.  I am confident that we won't regret this decision.

At this exact moment, I am dreaming of the day that we are moved into our renovated home and are unpacked.  A time when my only decision is what I am going to watch on TV or what book I want to read.  As we tick off the decisions we get closer and closer to this reality.  

When they say moving is one of the top 10 life stressors, they aren't kidding!

My thoughts on... choosing a running play list

I am running my very first half marathon in 168 days and the most important thing that will get me through it is the music on my play list.  Have you ever tried to run without music?  Yes, it is nice for the first few minutes to listen to your feet pound against the pavement, the birds chipping and the leaves cracking under your feet.  But after you've listened to nature for a few minutes, it gets boring. Very very boring.  When I run, I want to know the words to every single song and be able to sing along in my head. Or accidentally out loud on the really good songs.

My goal is to finish in 2 hours and 15 minutes, which is total of 135 minutes.  Assuming each song is on average 4 minutes, I will listen to 34 songs during the race.  Currently I have 92 songs on my play lists which is a pretty good start for when my training starts this spring.

For the past 10 months I have been addicted to Spotify.

You see, I've never been into paying for music.  I've never bought any music on iTunes or anywhere for that matter.  I used some other free apps for music that had tons of ads but it was free so I persevered. I am more of a radio gal when it comes to the car and in the house I use my phone that just happens to have all music from way back when I bought CDs, like a decade or more ago.  I used record songs off the radio onto my cassette tape....

This is where you have to promise not to laugh.  Most of the music I play is from 2002 and earlier. I say that year in particular since that was my last year of university.

I feel like the music you listen to is such a personal choice.  Who cares if you still sing Ice Ice Baby around the house or that your kids may know the words to some of the 90s classics.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't embarrassed to let people see the music I listen to in the kitchen, sing in the shower, and use to motivate me on a run.  The music that I love to listen to is the music I listened to in high school and university, the years where we went out dancing and had so much fun.  I have so many memories of each and every song that is on my list.

I often find myself texting my friends when I come across song that reminds me of them.  When I hear Cher or Wilson Phillips I think of Sara,  Whatta Man by Salt and Peppa makes me think of Deena, and Will Smith makes me think of Gina to name a few.  Oh and Paradise by the dashboard lights totally makes me think of my brother.  Those 7ish years were some of the best years of my life and music played such a big part of that time.  So without further a due, I introduce you to my running list via Spotify.

Remember, you already promised you wouldn't laugh...

Moving right along, you'll find more gourmet selections from the same time period.

And more....

I have been adding and deleting songs on a regular basis.  I have been listening to different play lists on Spotify and if I hear a song I love I throw it on my running play list.  Every so often I go through it and delete the songs that don't make me want to get up and dance.  While I am running I don't want to be bothered with changing songs, I want to just put the music on and let it go.  The better the song, the faster I ran and the more motivated I feel.  I wan to feel excited and when I put my head phones on I want to feel excited to run.

What is YOUR favorite song to run to?

My thoughts on.... Wireless Headphones

This Christmas, my most favorite gift I received was a pair of Dr Dre Beats wireless headphones.  A gift I didn't even ask for.  My Mom hit it out of the park this year by buying me something I didn't even know I wanted!

This year I got many gifts to help me with my 1/2 marathon training.  I got a hip belt to hold my phone and keys when I run, a Garmin running watch to help me watch my pace while running longer distances, and these wireless earphones.  You see, I didn't think I had a need for wireless ones, the current pair I have that look identical to these except they attach to my phone seemed to work just fine.  I would just run holding my phone in my hand and the cord in the other so it didn't flip all over the place and get caught on my clothes.  I got used to it so I didn't even know that there was a better way to do it.  Boy, was I missing out.   

Now, I can put my phone in my hip belt and run hands free.  I have put together a fantastic play list with some great oldies so I don't have to change songs.  Dare I say I am looking forward to my training program??

The running side of the wireless earphones is reason enough to buy them, but what I didn't realize is how much I would use them around the house.

I don't know how it works at your house, but at my house, I rarely get the TV.  And by rarely, I mean never. I literally only get the TV when James isn't home and the kids are sleeping.  In the past year, Netflix has become my best friend.  I often sit on the couch beside James with the iPad or chrome book and watch Netflix with earphones in.  Until now, those earphones have been attached to the device which means I have to sit on the couch and be still while I watch.

Enter the new headphones.  Life. Changing.

Now, I prop the iPad on the counter and wear my wireless earphones, one ear in and one ear out so I can still hear the kids when they holler loud enough.  I can unload the dishwasher, prep dinner, fold laundry, go the the bathroom and roam the house while I watch listen to my show.

I think it is easy to tell that my thoughts on wireless earphones are all positive.  Something I needed and I didn't even know!  Nothing but good things to say about these bad boys!