Mantra Monday!

insert other statement instead of ugly... "I am ______ and I'm proud!" because you are not ugly.  Not at all :)

I need to go run right now but instead I am blogging about it

....I also need to unpack from a weekend working out at camp (OHMYGOSHITWASSOGREATTOBEBACK) and get some laundry in.

sigh.

at least it's sunny today :)

But yeah.  I kinda really don't feel like running right now but I'm running out of time so my plan is to take a few minutes, jot out a blog post while simultaneously drinking in some "fitspiration".

can I do it?

Time will tell. (and also the degree of frazzleness in my hair)

ooh, this picture is pretty.  Random Tumblr find.

speaking of which, Tumblr changed their little toolbar thingy when you log in.  gasp.

Back on topic:  Fitspiration.

I've been kinda sorta doing this:

But not religiously-- I've been altering it a little with sit ups and regular planks and other random core workouts.  and wouldn't you know it, I think my abs actually are getting stronger!  Who'da thunk it.  And it doesn't take long, either... just a few minutes a day to get those core muscles engaged.

Also, I found this site through Pinterest last night.  Lots of great exercises and how to do them, which is fantastic for someone like me who still knows nearly nothing (get a load of that annunciation!) about exercise.

I am loving this sticker from Milestones Jewelry  (only three bucks!) and getting kind of scared excited for the half... I almost figured up how many weeks it is until the race but then I stopped myself because I think that'd just make me scared.

And in the midst of typing that I accidentally figured it up.

six weeks.

gasp.

doable.

I think.

I hope.

Yeah, I'm going to go run now.

Blog Gawker Sunday: 366 Random Acts of Kindness

So I think this is an amazing idea:

This sweet lady is blogging about her yearlong journey through performing 366 (It's a leapyear, folks) random acts of kindness.

LOVE IT.

She is totally not the kind of person that's like...

"ohmygoshhhhhh look how NICE I am, aren't I great, don't you just LOVE me..." She's just awesome and doing all these random kind things for people.

And she just has great ideas in general, such as becoming a sick kid's pen pal or answering trivia to feed hungry people.

By the way, her name is Ryan.

Hop on over to her blog and do something kind today!
________________________________________________________
big giant correction!
Ryan, I'm so sorry!
read his comment, folks: "Thank you so much for the post! I wanted to clear up a little confusion though. Ryan (me) is a man, and Lindsey (the woman in the pic with my daughter) is my wife."


sooooo actually it's still Ryan, but he's a man.  And that darling lady up there is his wife.


one day I'll be a cool mom and wife who DOESN'T make epic fails like this.

I Just Did It.

I have been running every other day for about a year an a half now.

technically two years, but I don't count that awkward time of kinda-sorta running now and then.

I am training for a half-marathon which will take place on April 14.

I am so freakin' excited.

13.1, baby.

It has also been all cold and rainy and crappy outside lately...  Not my favorite.

Cold+Rain=My least favorite running weather ever, actually.

So you can imagine my disgust when I stirred, woke, and stretched this morning only to look out the window and see overcast, freezing cold, rainy ickness out there.

mehhhhhhhhhhhhhh, sadface!

But I did it anyway.

I procrastinated all day long.

But I did it, and now I'm done.

5 miles checked off the list.

you can do it too!!!

Mantra Monday

Blog Gawker Sunday: Living in Yellow

You may remember last Sunday's The Daybook.


WELL!


Through a lovely guest post on  The Daybook, I found this lovely blog called Living in Yellow.

See how pretty she is?  All cute n' casual in those red heels and T-Shirt.

She is called Erin and has a sense of humor that leaves me giggling for quite awhile after I read her posts.

Perfect pick-me-up after a hard day's Pinterest browsing.  hehe :)

Erin talks about life and shares her spunky and humorous outlook on it in her posts.  Check out her blogging tips and look here for her own little intro to her blog.

 

Stuff that's blowing my mind today

Happy Saturday, folks!

So today Pinterest, Craftgawker and the like all seem to be hopping with inspiring ideas.

Or maybe it's just me being in a super-easily-inspireable mood.

Either way.

Okay, so my first blowing-my-mind thing (am I overusing dashes today?  hmm.  Just call me Dasher I suppose.  You can be Rudolph or Prancer or Comet or Vixen or any of those, if you like) today is this.

She embarked on a project to fill 365 jars all full of some kind of artsy something or other and release them off into the wild to be found by passerby.

HOWCOOLISTHAT!!!!!!!!!!

thing two:

Thank you, Duitang for giving me this lovely hair idea.  The model and her hair remind me of Meg Ryan back in her long hair, Sleepless in Seattle days.  I need to watch that movie again...

This Clickin Moms article on how to create your own home photography studio -- Super handy dandy!  But not as handy dandy as Steve's notebook, of course.  Is Steve even the name of the Blue's Clues guy any more?  Is Blue's Clues still even on?

Oh good gracious, a world of youth living without Blue's Clues...  That's a scary thought.

This shirt.

Just... yes.

I love whoever came up with it.