Flat tires

Flat tires flat tires are no fun
Flat tires flat tires can hurt someone


Luckily, nothing was hurt but my pride. Up at 5:15, rode out for what was to be a 18-20 mile ride. 5 miles in, I couldn't figure out why it was so hard to go downhill. Then I started the big climb.
Then I heard the terrible noise. I stopped, looked all over the bike for the piece of plastic that was preventing my tire from turning and couldn't find anything. So I started to get back on to go again, and as I looked down to clip my foot in I saw it. My front tire. Completely flat.

Not sure what I hit or how it happened, but my 90 minute ride was cut short by 60 minutes, and Chris and the kids had to pick me up.

Oh well...I'll try again on Sunday. Or maybe tomorrow. Or tonight if I get my tire fixed...

Had I made it up the hill, this is what I would have seen:





Photo by Robin S. from here

New Lunch Break Routine

On my lunch break today I went did yoga. This was the beautiful place where I unrolled my mat:

Somehow, I never knew this park was here, despite the fact that on the other side of the lake, and the other side of the dam, I routinely have taken walks, and even did my little brother's graduation pictures there! I used to do Pilates and Yoga in the conference room at my office, but the room is now much more used and I like to get out of the building. I'm so excited to go back, it's so pretty I didn't even mind the fact that it was 100 degrees! Hot yoga right?

The deer watched me run

I have been feeling a bit blah today. I wasn't happy with my morning run, I was later to work than I wanted to be, the day seemed to drag on and on and on.

But I am sitting outside now, in my backyard that I love, listening to the crickets and the neighborhood dogs and children. My own kids are singing to each other and I can hear them on the baby monitor. I am having my time and it's beautiful.

And just taking a moment to give thanks for how beautiful and peaceful it is out here I remembered what I saw while running this morning- before I got distracted and ornery about running- I saw two deer. They were eating in the field just outside of the neighborhood, and they both paused to watch me. Their beautiful, humongous eyes said, "Good morning! It's good to see you up so early!"

I haven't seen many deer in the last few months and I've been missing them. It was good to see them this morning, I'm thankful I got up and had the opportunity.

I know I shouldn't be diappointed, but I am!

I went running this morning. I didn't want to, I didn't want to get out of bed. To start the run I ran for a minute before deciding I would just walk. After 2 minutes of walking through, I decided I really would run and then I did- 4 min run 2 min walk intervals. I was going to just go for 30 minutes, but ended up extending the run at the end and being gone for 40 minutes. I was really proud of myself.

Then I mapped it and found I only ran 3 miles. I had thought it was probobly 3.5, which meant that I was improving my pace. The thought was very exciting considering I was really moving at a slow jog during the entire "run." But, no, still right there on my 13 minute mile.

I know I should be proud of myself for hauling my carcass out of bed and out the door, and then finding the motivation to run at all, but all I can focus on is "just 3 miles!"

Creatively Fit Marathon

My summer plans:

July 2: Begin the Creatively Fit Marathon
I took a painting class with Whitney in January and LOVED it. Planning on having painting parties with my kids on Fridays. Anyone know any good recipies for edible paints?

July 25: Music City Triathlon (Sprint)
My last tri was the weekend before Lily's first birthday. Thought I should do the same to celebrate Austin's birthday!

Auguts 13-21 Family Vacation in Emily, MN So very excited to relax and get to see everyone without having to run all over creation!

September 25: Women's Half Marathon
I mean, I'll have just done a triathlon 2 months before, so I'm blending the training programs. Might as well right?

What are your summer plans?

Patty Griffin at the Ryman

I don't have any pictures because I sat in awe for most of the show until I remembered during the last song that I could take one on my phone. It didn't turn out. Oh well.

Patty Griffin at the Ryman has been one of my "dream shows" ever since I fell in love with her music sometime after the fall of 2004. I know it was after the fall of 2004 because I saw her at ACL Fest (where we got engaged) and said something along the lines of "Wow, she's singing a lot of Dixie Chicks songs" to which one of the band members I was with said something like "That's because she wrote them."

I don't remember the first time I heard "Rain,"but I am confident that I set my iPod to repeat. I do remember the first time I heard "Heavenly Day"- I was on my lunch break from EMI and drove around for an extra 4 minutes to hear the end of the song. Then I bought it.

I love her voice, I love her songs. She's amazing.

Oh, and did you know she draws too? You know how I know? My husband gave me one of her drawings for our 5th anniversary. He had gotten it from her for a project he was working right after college. It's now hanging above my desk at home.

Isn't it pretty?

I didn't get up and go running this morning, but I did make a kick a$$ breakfast!

Church Pew Headboard

So my google reader recommended a new blog for me today: Design*Sponge. I thought, hey, I need a quick break, I'll check it out.

Oh.
My.
Goodness.

How amazing is this:


I love my cheap, bought on clearance for $100 but looks like it costs thousands headboard. But this is just too amazing for words. A pew headboard may be in my future.

Harry Potter and Revelations 21

I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) yesterday afternoon. As I tweeted, my life can now resume. There is something about those books that makes doing anything else (cleaning, writing, blogging, sleeping) nearly impossible. What happens? How's it end?

Then we went to church, the first time we've been to Sunday night church in at least 4 years I think- and the sermon was on Revelations 21 and how it's not just a peachy "happily ever after" that was thrown in the Bible to make us all feel better. It didn't really have any day-to-day applicability.

Except that it does- the day-to-day applicability is that we have hope in knowing that one day we will be able to say "the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God." He is not going to "fix" this world, he is going to bring a "new heaven and a new earth."

If you haven't read the last of the Harry Potter series and intend to, read the rest of this later.

I couldn't help but consider, while I was sitting there in church, how much the character of Harry Potter is a Jesus figure in the story. He doesn't create a new heaven and a new earth, but he does defeat evil once and for all by dying and rising again, and he makes his home with his people, living among them.

Now, Harry never claims to be a diety or anything, and it's just a story, I personally don't beleive it's blaphemous. The Christian college I used to attend taught classes to the Elementary Ed majors about the series and how it could or could not be used without contradicting Christianity. There are a series of books available on Amazon debating whether it's all witchcraft and therefore evil or if there is something we could learn.

I say, if you know someone who cannot grasp who Jesus is and what He did, it seems that using the Harry Potter example would be a way to speak on their level. We just need to be careful not to replace Jesus with Harry Potter.

The gospel seems to be a hot storyline these days in general: between the Chronicals of Narnia series that Disney is working through, The Lord of the Rings, Lost, Harry Potter... the tools for using relevant media are abundant right now. As Christians, I hope we are using them and not fighting them.

Gotta love it:

I visited a new coffee shop today: Vienna House over off of Caruthers Parkway behind Boscos. I had wonderful coffee, but I was most impressed by the bathroom- first of all- actual towels for the hands. Second- a beautiful dresser with a changing table! As the mother of two small children, that shows me the thoughtfulness of the proprietors even more than the lovely, comfortable seating and decorations.

June Goals Update

As I was afraid might happen, as things got crazy-busy at work this spring I lost track of my goals and neglected my monthly check-isn. I also focused so intently on fishing The Pilates Lifestyle that I forgot about other writing projects all together, save for a few one-off pieces I did here and there.

Well, I'm back now, and sitting down with the goals. I was excited to find out how many I had achieved, but shocked to realize that I had much higher hopes for getting my clothing line off the ground than I have realized.

Now I'm in a quandary: what do I do?

I have plenty to do to get my easy stores going: i have one up but have yet to make a sale. I could definitely do with spending some time focusing on getting that off the ground.
I could re-dedicate myself to writing a few query letters each month (i think 10 is too many) to try to get some regular, paying writing gigs.
I need to decide what my next writing "project" is and get started on it.
I could focus my weekly time (yes, I get one afternoon/evening of alone time each week. I'm lucky, I know. I call it sanity time.) on really putting some more effort into getting this clothing line off the ground.

How do I decide? Each of these things is very important to me. However, 2 of the four require a monitory investment that I'm not sure how to come up with. I would love to get the clothing line going- if nothing else so I could have better clothes to work out in. But I don't have the faintest idea where to start, and that's paralyzing!

I do know that I need to revise some of my deadlines, and, in turn, some of my expectations of myself. While I would like to think I can put as much effort into all of these dreams as I would a full time job, the reality is that my actual full time job, along with my part time job and my family, take up a lot of energy. I had thought that I got further along postpartum I would have more energy, and I do, but I also have fewer waking hours that the kids aren't awake. They are too young right now to fully focus on anything else if they are around, so while I can get little things done here and there, I can't do "projects" except during my Sanity time.

What goals are you currently working towards? Are you at a crossroads? How do you decide where to go next?

They don't 'em like they used to!

My parents got this blender when they got married 32 years ago. It still works. When I first moved to Nashville I went through 4 blenders in 3 years. They just don't make the same high-quality kitchen appliances these days I guess. A few years ago I did bite the bullet and buy this one (same brand as Mom & Dads) and it's still working. Let's see if it lasts for 30+ years!

In my old room

I'm at my parents' house with the kids through the end of the month. It was a very fun, spur of the moment (a month ago) trip that came up because of random circumstances with Chris's job that would make it convenient for him to be in Minneapolis in a week. So, rather than come for 2 days, we came for 10.

It's so funny- I always come up here thinking that I'll be able to relax and just get away from everything, when, in reality, it's usually just as busy if not more while I'm here.

I have to work my regular hours the whole time I'm here because I'm hoarding my last week of vacation for our planned family trip in August.

I want to reconnect with some friends I haven't seen in a long time.

I want to nap.

I want to go take pictures.

I want to play in the lake.

I want to get away and figure out what's next for me. It's time to move on to something new.

I need to have a goal check in.


This is what my friends and I painted on my bedroom wall on my 16th birthday. It's no masterpiece, but it struck me when I saw it today that art has always been in my life in some form. I made some of the furniture in my parent's living room. I took several of the pictures on the walls. I got in a river for my graduation pictures for heaven's sake! There is this artsy fartsy side of me that is dying to become more. More what? is what I need to start to unravel.

Tightening our belts

Last fall, my husband's job situation changed, and since, we have been working to be more careful with our spending. We have a budget and try to use cash as much as possible. The only debt that we have is our cars and our houses.

But we both struggle. We don't live in a society that encourages saving, careful consideration of spending or even a conscious awareness of spending. When so many websites so kindly store your credit card information, with one click bata-bing-bata-boom- you are the new owner of this or that knick knack and your budget is shot.

We have frugal friends, but no one ever seems to go without. Wants are bought on a whim, vacations are scheduled and taken. I struggle with jealousy for what I think others have a lot, when, in reality, I know that they probably have a mountain of credit card debt following them around.

What is your budget philosophy? How do you determine when a "want" is worth it and when the money in the savings account really needs to just stay there? Has your outlook on this changed in the last few years?

Lovely

Ha! Somehow I accidentally just published this post without actually writing it. So...if you see the blank one, sorry about that!

I had such a lovely evening last nigh. I came home from work with a throbbing headache on the verge of turning into a full-on migraine (I've been having a lot of these lately, not fun) so Chris took the kids to the playground without me and I took a half hour nap. Between the meds, the nap and dinner, I was able to stave off the full on headache. Chris helped me get the kids bathed and then he headed out for a show.

I settled in and got to play with my kids. Then, when they went to bed I finished the last 150 or so pages of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I sat outside for a while to read and saw a mama bird feeding her baby. I made some popcorn. When I was on the second to last page, Austin started crying and I got to rock him to sleep while he cuddled into my shoulder, something this active child rarely ever does. I went to bed and laid and talked to my husband, who I seem to never see anymore, for a long time before falling asleep in his arms.

It was a lovely night.

My Favorite Accessory

I love necklaces. I love how they can bring out colors in my outfit, draw attention to, well, you know, the girls, and how they can just make me feel pretty.

Today I'm wearing this necklace from What's In Store, my favorite store right now. I love it because it inspires me. I make jewlery, and ever since the first time I walked in I've been inspired to make more and do more. I only buy things that I don't think I can make myself. They are my treats.

Mother's Day

I had a lovely Mother's Day yesterday. First, I was woken up by my 2 year old at 6am (it was early, but sweet). Then we all got dressed--no showers--and took a beautiful drive down the Natchez Trace to have breakfast at the Loveless Cafe. The biscuits really are incredible.

Then we decided to go to church, even though we weren't dressed for it. Great service, home and the kids down for a nap, I ran a few errands and came back and spent the rest of the afternoon writing and reading. After the kids got up from their naps and we had my favorite food of all time for supper- Taco Rice Hotdish- we took the kids to the playground.

It was a wonderful day and I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family!

Flood

The flood coverage is terrifying, especially because I'm not home. I'm thankful that Chris and the kids went to Kentucky yesterday so I haven't had to worry about their safety. I spoke to the President of out home owners association thus morning and he assured me that the neighborhood was okay, but I can't help but be nervous about what I will find when (if) I make it home tomorrow. The weather channel said the rain is supposed to quit by midnight, I hope they're right and that the airport re-opens tomorrow.

Amanda Moon

World class procrastinator

I am a world class procrastinator. For instance, right now, I have a very specific task I should be doing, and it has nothing to do with this blog. However, I don't want to do it. So, I read a few blogs, and now I'm typing one. I also want to draw a picture of a clock to illustrate this entry (if it's here, I did it.) Probobly going to happen.

I don't think procrastination is always bad. In fact, I know that if I put a time limit on my procrstination, I feel better when I'm done and am able to focus better.

So- procrastinate away. Just make sure you have a list of what really needs to get done so you remember what to go back to.

Need to simplify

Just a warning- there some changes coming up here and on my other two sites: Pilatesformommies.net and ThePilatesLifestyle.com. I need to simplify, and, minimally, I'm going to combine my umpteen blogs into one. I'm going to keep Lily's separate because, after all, it's hers, but the whole split personality thing is getting to me. More to come.