Five

I had a panic attack the other day because this will be FIVE at the end of June:

How did THAT happen? Where did time go? I'm not one to get overly sentimental over age, but for some reason I just can't help but cry when I think of Lovie turning FIVE. It just seems so old I guess. He's growing up so fast I can hardly stand it.

Dreams to Reality ... in two parts

Part One - Marathon

For as long as I can remember, running a marathon has been near the top, if not at the top, of my "bucket list." Part in parcel because when I was younger my Dad ran four marathons and is responsible for getting me into running. Seeing first hand the high he experienced after he completed SUCH an incredible feat was pretty awesome to witness as a kid. And then seeing how running especially marathon training got him in incredible shape was pretty cool too. 

Last night there was an information session for the Richmond Marathon, which takes place on November 10th. I attended with hopes of it talking me out of running the marathon. But if anything, it talked me into running it even more. So, that night after talking to Mr. Nonmomjeans about how this will not only be a lifestyle change but will require an insane amount of support from him I wasn't concerned about the latter ... he's my biggest cheerleader and also he'll be Mr. Mom most Saturday mornings ... so after a resounding YES, do it and give it 100% from him ... I signed up. I'm fortunate enough to live in Richmond where there's a training team put on by Sports Backers for the Richmond Marathon. Last year it had over 11,000 participants in the program and I've heard from many whom have done the program that they met some great lifelong running buddies and most importantly, friends. The program breaks the participants into three groups: novice, intermediate and advanced. Within those groups are subgroups, each with a trainer, and you have the choice of selecting either Saturday or Sunday morning group runs. This sense of camaraderie was key for me. I'll consider the experience a success if I a.) finish and b.) make at least one friend. 

I'm nervous but an excited nervous. Like the night before I got married. Eeek! Can't wait. 

Part Two - Started Grassroots Company ... P.S. I got it covered

Those who know me well, know that having my own personal shopping business has been a dream of mine since, well, forever. So, I've started a facebook page http://www.facebook.com/PsIGotItCovered for the company. I'll probably also have a blog until I see what happens. Since Facebook is free, I figure I have nothing to lose. Either it'll be a great success and a hit or it won't ... I'm fine with both. Right now I am not employed other than by my adorable children, so I have the time to see if it takes off or not. I'm also married to a great guy who has been nothing but encouraging of this venture since I told him what I wanted to do. 

P.S. stands for "personal shopper" and I got it covered came from the fact that currently, until need/demand is clearly defined I'm willing to shop for most anything that people hate to do/need help with. I also like the idea of it being a "P.S." at the end of a note, or the end of a conversation with a girl friend. Kinna like "P.S. I can help you with that by the way." I thought it was clever. Now I just have to find a graphic designer to put my idea for a company logo into reality. I have the design in my head so vividly ... I just need help making it reality. So, if you know of anyone who would be willing to do this gratis or on a dime, let me know!!

So, stay tuned. I'm a novice at both of these things so I'm sure I'll make some mistakes and have to find my own way. Especially with the personal shopping company, I'm sure it'll evolve over time - from mission statement to rates to what I shop for ... supply and demand. But I'm also confident that with enough passion and drive most anything can become successful! 

Product Review: Lorac TANtilizer Highlighter & Matte Bronzer Duo

Buy it right now

This has been close to life changing for me. I'm about as white of a white girl as they come. And summer barely rectifies that whole situation. Recently, I've been reading a lot about bronzer and how it's pretty much an instant face lifter and instantly makes your face look more alive. So, for my Birthday I asked for a gift card to Sephora so that I could find bronzer that I liked and that suited my ever growing list of requirements:

1. Sensitive skin friendly
2. No parabens
3. No fragrance
4. Won't look unnatural
5. Not a self-tanner
6. For the face

When the amazing Sephora sales lady showed me the Lorac bronzer I was already ready to say YES! I am a huge of fan of Lorac and use the Lorac foundation and love it here's the link if you're in the market for a sensitive skin friendly foundation: http://www.loraccosmetics.com/best-sellers_natural-performance-foundation.html. Keep in mind, this covers so well that you don't need much at all ... read: it's lasted me 2 years. 

The bronzer on one side and highlighter on the other is perfect. With the bronzer, depending on your skin color, you can add as little or as much as you like. The sales lady who sold it to me used it and she was a very dark black woman. She said, "It's one of the few bronzer's that looks good on all skin colors." I LOVE it. It gives my pasty white self juuuust enough color to look refreshed and awake and slightly sun kissed. Typically you put on bronzer after foundation and/or concealer and powder but before you put on blush. The highlighter is fun to play around with. It has a hint of shimmer and is a great finishing, defining touch after you put on all your makeup. It goes on the brow bone, top of the cheek bone and then down the top of your nose. 

The other day I went out of the house with some bronzer, blush and a swipe of mascara and some highlighter on my brow bone and looked effortlessly natural. Maybe that's what I love most about this dynamic duo. That above all, it looks natural.

Stress

So, you'll remember the post last month about being sad? Since then I've been to a therapist to talk my way through various Angela Agenda items and it's been a huge help. Two sessions ago, on my Birthday to be exact, she left me with a packet on stress and my objective before the next session was to read through it. Read through it I did and boy do we have one stressed lady on our hands. 

The first page in the packet was on Signs of Stress including bodily signs (tense muscles, headaches, frequent colds, breathing difficulties), feeling signs (uneasy, nervous, helpless, dissatisfied, frustrated, apathetic), behavioral signs (act irritable, negativistic; verbal mistakes, timid/withdrawn) and thinking signs (self doubt, racing thoughts, think you need help, difficulty concentrating). The second page is titled You and Stress and is a test of sorts to see just how stressed you are. There is a column on the left with various situations/life events and a numerical score attached to them. The exercise is to go through the column of life events/situations and see how many have happened/apply to you in the past year. Tally up the score and then see the chart below to determine how stressed you really are. Well, my score was 487. Apparently, any score over 300 states the following:

You now have a 9 in 10 chance of a serious health change in the next two years.

Hooray!!

I voiced my concern to my therapist about how that score was alarming/scary. As with most things, the first step is recognizing the stress. And the next is to recognize when stressful events are about to occur and planning/manage them accordingly. Example:

Pregnancy:
Recognize that it's going to be stressful
Realize that things that were previously able to be accomplished in a day may not be ever?
Cut yourself some slack and give yourself credit

Ha. Or don't have a baby less than a year after you get married. 

As for ways to effectively manage stress, the packet suggests healthy diet and exercise. Which seems to be the answer for pretty much anything these days. And another key factor that my therapist told me to do was to get some human interaction during the day. Of which currently I have little to none of. And to give myself a break. Those are things I can start doing NOW to solve the immediate need of A 31 year old should not have that much stress in her life and how can we reduce it.

Here's my immediate action plan:
while Lovie is at school go to the gym and take an exercise class (there is free babysitting for Baby Sister), look into working at Nordstrom a few evenings during the week and one weekend day or look into going back to work part time and start accomplishing some of my dreams.

One dream I've had for probably the past five to six years is to be a personal shopper. I've always loved shopping for others, shopping in general and love to run errands. Most hate errands and grocery shopping in particular, but it's something I've always enjoyed. Why not give it a go? What do I have to lose?

In the packet, and through talking to my therapist, it's mentioned often that once stress is recognized it can be used in a positive way. To solve a problem, to push us to do something that we may not have thought we could or to learn. While I'm stressed that I'm stressed, I'm also excited to put some of these tools to use and for what the future holds. Stay tuned!!

10K

No matter the distance, when your 60 year old Dad asks if you want to run a race with him you do it. No if's, and's or but's. My Dad is one of my greatest motivators - in life and in running. He knows at exactly the right moment to be encouraging, when to be empathetic and when to really push. We have the same pace and both love to book it when are we are about .2 to .4 miles away from the finish line. Something about seeing the finish, and picking off people as we approach that sends the adrenaline soaring. 

I don't know how many more of these opportunities I'll have so I want to jump on each one. Love you, Dad! Thanks for a great race!

At his surprise 60th Birthday Party 

One of my all time favorites and sums up perfectly how I feel about my Dad

Survivor

Two years ago yesterday my Grandmother, Nanny, survived a stroke. Actually, if we're going to get right down to it, she survived a lot of mini strokes from the afternoon the first one happened until late into the night. I will always remember that day, like 9/11, and the emotions I had surrounding that day. A day that started happy and joyful became sad and traumatic and horrible and, miraculously, ended on a high note.

If it were not for our family friend, who happens to be a doctor, who stayed at the hospital with us and made the lifesaving recommendation to her doctor about performing a very dangerous procedure on her - she wouldn't be alive today. So dangerous that a waiver had to be signed to even do it because of the mortality associated with it. A true fighter, the procedure worked and she spent no more than a few days in the hospital. And best of all - she has no lasting effects from the strokes. 

Now, two years later she has not only been able to see me get married, but my younger brother as well, and the birth of Baby Sister and many, many more celebrations to come. A true miracle.

I love you, Nanny!!

I thank God every day for her survival.

Grey/Gray

While yes, this does describe my mood as of late; no, that's not what this post is about. It's about appropriate work out/running errands pants. Here's a little experiment to get my point across ...

1. Put on a pair of gray pants
2. Pee your pants
3. You're not going anywhere without changing your pants are you?

Case and point. So, if you want to wear your grey pants to run errands and it's not nine billiondy degrees read: no threat of swamp ass go ahead. But if you want to wear your gray pants to go work out or, better yet, work out and then run errands well, don't say I didn't warn you. 

Gray has a way of showing EVERYTHING. It's not as forgiving as black or white or dark green or navy ... which hide most everything. A very select, few, group of people can get away with "working out" in grey pants cause their definition of "working out" is just that ... exercise that deserves quotation marks around it. Cause it's more about reading US Weekly than it is about actually, working out. 

You want me to tell you when you have something in your teeth, right? Well. I'd certainly hope that if you looked like you peed your pants when you didn't you'd want me to tell you that too.