The Run

As a little girl, I always thought that a new pair of sneakers could make me run faster.  Ha! I was such a silly child.

It’s obviously the shoelaces.

My sister Sarah gave me a pair of hot pink shoelaces a few weeks ago, and I finally got around to lacing them into my sneakers.  And I totally ran faster.  I just know it.

Of course, faster for me means that I now ‘run’ at a Grandma Jone’s pace.  (No offense to any real Grandma Jones  out there who could probably kick my butt in a race).  Nate and I have just named my current speed after that, since I’m all about slow endurance as apposed to a speed-demon pace.

Pacing myself has become my life-line, as Nate found a great five-mile loop for us to run around a nearby campground and lake.  Between you and me, five miles is a bit much at this point in time, but I married a man version of Jillian Michaels.  (Not that he’s in killer shape yet either.  He’s just a machine when he works out and makes it look easy).

Ugh, don’t you hate people like that?

  Yeah, it’s a good thing he’s cute!

Anyway, back to our new, five-mile route….

It’s really great.

We do a lot of off-road running that’s surrounded by some beautiful pine trees and ponds.

  It’s also great for endurance.  If you feel as though you can’t run anymore and decide to walk instead, you’re instantly engulfed in a swarm of mosquitoes.  So it’s your choice: keep going or become dinner.

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Well, I pushed through the pain last night, and I ran the full five miles without stopping once. I also noticed that as I fell into a rhythm, my pace actually picked up, and I was able to keep up with Nate at the end.  So although it wasn’t easy, and although I wanted to crawl in agony at the end, I did it! 

And I imagine the next run will only be easier.  As my sister would say, it’s all uphill from here… in a good way!

Yeah, you’re right, I should have bought new shoelaces months ago!

Does anyone else start off running really slow and then pick up pace as they get into a comfortable groove?  How do you find your perfect running pace?

Rainy Days

Yesterday I announced that I was going on strike.

It was rainy and cold outside.  We had no plans (for once).  And I had absolutely no desire to fight the sleepiness threatening to take over.

So immediately after church, I changed into a pair of comfy sweatpants and a sweater and informed Nate that I wasn’t even going to make dinner.  Naive girl that I am, I expected his shoulders to hunch in disappointment as he realized that he would have to go an evening without my amazing cooking skills.

Instead, his eyes widened as he asked, “Can we have KFC?”

Fried chicken.  It’s my husband’s first love.

Me?  I prefer little balls of fuzzy fur that snuggle under my chin and beg for kisses.  So I let Nate have his fried chicken, and we both ended up being very happy.

.(What can I say… Small things amuse us). 

So going on strike was just what I needed…  This morning, I feel like a brand new woman, raring to go despite the fact that it’s raining AND Monday.  Well, I’m mostly raring to go anyway. 

What I did on my weekend was…

Friday night was just what I needed…

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Getting all dressed up for a cousin’s wedding and just enjoying the evening out with my hubby was almost therapeutic, causing me to forget how crazy busy things have been and left me feeling excited about this upcoming year.

.Such good times!

There’s also something therapeutic about a long drive…

Just me and my thoughts as my little yellow car zips over windy roads and past beautiful New England scenery.  (If my dad is reading this, let me clarify that I was zipping along in accordance with the speed limit.  Mostly.). 

The leadership training I attended on Saturday morning with a few others from my church took me on a long drive to Sturbridge, but it was all back roads, farms, and fields.  So pretty.  It made me want to pull over and just breathe in the fresh air and have a picnic.  It made me feel happy and stress-free… So much so that Nate wondered why he hadn’t sent me on a long car-ride weeks ago. 

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It turned out to be such a beautiful day that when I was back home much later that afternoon, Nate, my sister, and I went on a walk around the lake.  It was an extremely serious, high-energy, focused walk; because we’re those kind of people.

You know, very little time to goof around.  We’re too busy pondering the great mysteries of life…

and talking business.

Hmmmm, I imagine that this weekend was a glimpse of what the rest of the summer will be like.  And all I can say is… I sure hope so! 

I’m Back

Well, I think I’m finally nearing the end of my crazy-nonstop-hair pulling-go-go-go-busy schedule.  (And my husband and two cats all shout ‘amen’).

Apparently, I need to introduce a four letter word into my vocabulary and that’s ‘nooo’.  Okay, fine, that’s technically a two-letter word.  Sounds so much more dramatic when you hold the ‘o’ though, don’t you think?

Honestly, the majority of things that were booking my schedule were things that I couldn’t say no to.  Like baby showers for friends.  And leadership meetings at church.  And hosting Easter dinner.  And spending long days at the office.

I definitely had to let some things go, but please be assured that blogging isn’t the only thing I had to put down for awhile.  If you don’t believe me, just stop by my house and see the pretty pictures my husband drew in the dust on our coffee table.

I mean, you know that you haven’t been the best of home-makers when you start cleaning the house and your husband asks, “Who’s coming over?”

Major fail.

But it’s all coming to an end, and I can finally breathe again.  I have a wedding to attend tomorrow night and then a church leadership training on Saturday, but I think that’s pretty much it.  Things settle down to a much more comfortable pace.

And a fun pace!!    See last year, I woke up on the morning of my birthday (June 11th) and felt sick.  I thought it was just the flu, but it turned out to be much more and I ended up feeling nauseous for months.  It was a year of doctor’s appointments and tests and really I’ve just recovered from the crazy stomach issues.  (It actually was all due to a urinary tract infection that my doctor didn’t catch).

Now that I’m back to my usual healthy self, I’m able to look back on all the lessons I learned from the experience.  Mainly, I learned that  life is short so you have to embrace it and really live it!

And so, with another birthday on the way, I’ve been coming up with a ton of fun plans and life goals for this upcoming year.  (If last year’s theme was over-coming fear, which it really was in many ways, I want this year’s theme to be Just Live It!).  I’ll be jumping over to my new blog sometime in May, but — for now — I’ll try to update as much as possible.  No more disappearing, I promise! 

Soooo, it’s been a LONG time!  What have you been up to???

I’m Still Here :)

Hello, my bloggy friends!

I wanted to write a quick post to let you all know that I’m still alive and kicking… and still doing well.

Life just got a bit busy as of late.  Okay, crazy busy.  Nate always says that I need to learn how to say ‘no’, and I suppose he’s right, as usual.    I just need to get through these next couple of weeks and then things will slow down and adjust into a much more comfortable pace… just in time for warmer weather and all the fun things that come with it. 

I have missed blogging and all you amazing readers and fellow bloggers, so you can be sure that I will be back.  And when I come back, I may have a surprise… in that I may or may not have a new blog address and name!  (I thought that a bit of change might be good for some added inspiration.  It’ll be very much of the same blogging you’re used to, but I wanted to give it a new look and maybe a more upbeat feel.  There also may be some blog video posts coming up, which I’m crazy excited about since I’ve yet to do that in my two years of blogging!  So I really can’t wait to share these new changes with you).

But until then, I hope all is well!  I miss you all and really appreciate those of you who have emailed me, checking in to make sure that everything is okay in theSimple Moment’shome.  You all ROCK!

‘See’ you soon,

Nicole 

Spring has sprung… already?

Yawn… Stretch…

Well, that was a nice, blogger cat-nap.  I rather feel like Rip Van Winkle, as I went to ‘sleep’ in winter… and woke up to spring a mere two weeks later.

Under normal circumstances, New England would still have snow on the ground, but here we are in near seventy degree weather.  I’m already sporting sundresses (honestly quite glad to get rid of the bulky sweaters and jackets).

Highstreet is begging us to take out the BBQ…

…and Stitchy is making faces at robins.

Even the trees have been fooled into thinking that spring is officially here.

And all I can is, “Please, Spring.  Please don’t go away.  Please stay until it’s Summer’s turn to take over!”

Bloggy Break

You all know that once in awhile, I like to take a week off from blogging just so that I can brainstorm new blog post ideas and such. 

So I’m taking this week off to collect my thoughts, but I’ll be back by the end of the week or early next week.

‘See’ you soon! 

– Nicole