out of the 13 races i’ve done in the last 6 years, there have been only two occasions when i have raced a distance and performed worse than i had in the past.

the first time was my 5th half marathon that i ran last spring – it was much hotter than i expected and i was unprepared. i wasn’t drinking enough and i likely hadn’t trained properly. i ran the course 4 minutes slower than i had the year before, and for some reason, it didn’t really bother me. by the fall, i bounced back to my old time (almost a minute faster) and a few weeks later, took 3 more minutes off.

(this was taken at that race, early on before things got really rough)

the second time was this weekend. half marathon #8. it was on a course i had never done before (this year i purposefully sought out new, interesting races to do. i’d seen this one on angela’s blog – she did the 10K last year). the race was super small (only a few hundred people) and not as well organized as most of the other races i do (my race kit had 4 boxes of triscuit crackers and a whole bunch of wrist and menstrual cramp tummy heat packs. random!). there was no elevation map on the race website, so i had no idea how many hills there would be! i knew it would be hilly-ish, but i wasn’t ready for steep hills in kilometre 2. at kilometre 16, it started to POUR. thunderstorms. i was soaked in an instant (squishy shoes), which didn’t help my defeated attitude. i made the same mistakes i’ve made many many times in the past: i didn’t drink enough and i didn’t take in enough calories, and you better believe i hit the wall. my splits were getting slower, i was getting tireder (is that a word?), and i just wanted the whole thing to be over! i had enough energy at the end to sprint the last kilometre and pass a bunch of people, which made it obvious that i hadn’t run hard enough during the rest of the race.

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gretchen rubin says that people feel happier when they are improving and this is true for me! she talks about how having an atmosphere of growth is important. i don’t have any more races until august, but i will take this lesson and work towards growing and improving, not only my time, but my attitude and outlook on myself too! i know i can’t get faster each and every race forever because that is obviously unsustainable. from now on, i will embrace my body for what it can do, even if it’s not always as fast as i wish it were!

although i’ve had a lot of fun with a busy spring racing season, i am happy that i have a few months of “breather” time to refocus and really work hard on my speed and hills without the pressure of getting a long long run in every single weekend.

until then, here are some funny pictures.

i am wearing a bondi band that says yoga on it and has a stick figure in tree pose. i am trying to imitate that here.

although these were taken pre-race, this pretty much sums up how i would feel after!

can you see the pain in my eyes? my legs look so slow, i may as well be walking (oh and i did half to stop and walk a few times up parts of those killer hills). i look a tiny bit deranged on the right, no? it kind of felt awesome passing some people at the end.

pretty things around the web:

new favourite website/blogs that make my days better

1) [i] Lovelife

written by artist, photographer, and ray of sunshine, kal barteski

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2) enJOY it

written by artist, crafter, designer and creator of beautiful things, elise joy (what a perfect name!) blaha

the posts on her wedding are STUNNING. also, she has an etsy shop, and i want one of everything.

3) young house love

an absolutely beautiful home design blog, written by husband and wife team john and sherry. this makes me super excited to completely design/decorate our new home sometime in the next year or two.

4) tea and cookies

the intersection of food and life, written by tea! i don’t need to say any more. this blog is glorious.

i’m excited that the world cup has rolled around again. i’ve been watching (and loving) international soccer since 1986, when i was just 4 years old (cheering for argentina at the time). although i don’t have the patience (or the time or the cable) to watch entire games, i have had fun making my bracket and watching/reading highlights.

today is my monthly day off from work and boy do i need it! i ran a really hard race on saturday (SO. MANY. HILLS) and we spent all of sunday doing chores inside and outside the house. i woke up early this morning to go to hot yoga and then took a nice lon g epsom bath, which have both really helped with my sore quads. i’m planning to spend the rest of the day doing a mix of more chores and fun, relaxing things

last weekend, for the third year in a row, i went to a 24 hour bike race with jon. i was the team’s support crew, although this race doesn’t require too much in the way of “support” because cabins, showers, bathrooms and meals (even sports drink if you’re interested) are provided! i was mostly just there for moral support.

jon had a team of 4 men. there were about 7 mens teams, 1 all women team, a bunch of solo male riders (including 1 adorable 12 year old!), 2 solo females, and 5-6 tag teams. it was really laid back and ended up being an awesome weekend. they had an 11km course set up on the trails and over the 24 hours, the team members took turns doing laps. we started off with a round of single laps, switching to doubles and then doing triples overnight (giving the other team members more sleeping time!). different teams had different strategies- the team in the cabin next to ours stuck to singles. our friends that were a tag team of 2 did 5 laps on, 5 laps off. any way you look at it, racing for 24 hours is kind of insane. the solo riders are by far the most hardcore – the top 3 riders probably rode for about 20 of the 24 hours (stopping only for eating and bathroom breaks). yikes. nutrition is definitely a challenge, as you don’t have much time to really eat OR digest (and you are taking in an excess of carbs for race fuel), so it kind of does a number on the tummy.

we set up a tent next to our cabin for working on bikes in in case it rained. we ended up not needing it at all! (i did use it to get away from the bugs for a bit though)

they always do something a little bit different for the start of the race. the first year we did it, it was a le mans style, with helmets on the bikes. last year was just a regular start. this year they did le mans but helmets were on the racer’s heads. jon is good at these things, and got a spot near the front of the pack, giving his team a bit of an edge.

jon is in the yellow and black jersey.

i wore my vibram five fingers on the first day and ended up making tons of friends! everyone wanted to chat about my shoes. it was pretty awesome. they are definitely a great conversation piece.

some reps from IMBA (international mountain biking association) were there. i love their vehicle!

some pictures from the weekend:

jon on the left // xavier on the right

second solo female and her 12 year old son who rode with her // the two solo females

three solo male winners // female team

mixed team // third place men’s

second place men’s team (team doppler effect!!!) // first place men’s

youngest (and cutest) rider // 3rd place tag team

second place tag team // first place tag team

what i loved most about this race was the sportsmanship. so many people had mechanical issues with their bikes. on our team, jon’s fork was not working 2 days before the race, part of jeff’s fork was damaged the night before the race, jon’s seat post was not staying up during the race, then right before one of his laps, the collar holding the seat post in broke, one of jeff’s pedals came off, some guy on another team cracked his frame, etc, etc, etc. it was awesome to see everyone step in to help each other out. competitors offering up spare parts so other teams could go on – quite inspiring. also, it makes me happy that in my sport, there isn’t much chance of a mechanical failure ending my race.

it was a fun but exhausting weekend. i was happy to have monday off from work to recover and sleep! three years ago, the guys entered a 5 man team and missed 3rd place by a hair. last year, they had a 4 man, 1 woman mixed team and placed 1st in the mixed category (which had 3 teams last year) – they would have been 3rd in the men’s category with the number of laps they did. this year, the 4 man team they put together came in 2nd. improvement is good!

almost 2 weeks ago, i ran a race in toronto. i was going to write a recap of it, but then i thought i’d wait for pictures. i had to wait because my usual photographer was at home playing sleeping beauty in bed (he’d been up late work every night that week and gone alllll day saturday building his new bike, so i thought i’d give him a break and let him sleep in sunday) and the official ASI photographers take ages.

They also take crappy photos. Case in point:

I won’t be buying any of these! i usually at least have one good official picture, but these all suck! plus, out of the 10 they said were me, these 3 were the only ones that were actually me. it took them a week and a half and they couldn’t even get their file organization right. FAIL.

The race itself went pretty well. It was only my 3rd ever 10K – last year i slashed almost 30 minutes from my previous time (wow, when i started running i was suuuuper slow), and i had high hopes for this new fast course. of course once i got rid of those 29 minutes, there was much less to lose!

I had to wake up crazy early to take a bus to get to another bus (the subway doesn’t start running till 9am on sundays!) to get me to the starting line at a reasonable time. I ended up getting there ridiculously early, but if i had taken a later bus, i wouldn’t have made it. It was the first time i’d even gone to a race completely on my own, and I have to say, it made me a tiny bit sad. i’ll be going to at least one more race this summer on my own though, so i guess i should get used to it. it certainly is much nicer when i have my support crew of one.

the 10K is a completely different race for me. when i run half marathons and greater, i have time to think and enjoy, time to look and wave, time to breathe. at this race, i was all business. i pretty much ran as fast as (i thought) i could, the entire time, and it was over before i knew it. i was hoping to get a 55:xx time, and I know I probably could have with a little more focus – my final time was 56:08 (last year’s time for an equally fast course was 56:53). I have another 10K race at the end of the summer (though on a different and likely slower course), so hopefully my speedwork will pay off by then! i never really feel fast when i’m racing (probably because i’m not), but on sunday, i really did feel speedy. i was running 8:40something minute miles, which i have not really been able to do since middle school, when i struggled with those presidential fitness tests (my mile time was ALWAYS in the 9 minute range, so i had to settle for the national fitness level). it felt good to be able to hold on to that for over 6 miles!

this coming weekend is my first half marathon of the year. i’m looking forward to it (other than the fact that it starts at 7:30 am and is 40 minutes away by car) – it will be good to see exactly where my training has put me, and i’ll be able to readjust my plans for the rest of the season. i’ve been doing a lot more yoga lately, and it is definitely making a difference in how i feel. my hips and hamstrings are perma-tight, and i have a bit of lower back pain from sitting and biking. all that stretching really helps.

i’m glad i signed up for a bunch of different races. running things like 10Ks, 30Ks and 15Ks (things i normally don’t do) pushes me further and makes me a better runner.

on a crazy whim back in november, i decided it would be a great idea to do a 30k race at the end of the winter. shortly after i signed up, i started to regret my decision. 30k is a long way and i didn’t feel like training that hard through the cold months.

i usually don’t really run much during that time. a few years ago i trained for an april half marathon, and ran through loads of snow and ice. it wasn’t fun. luckily this year’s winter was incredi-mild. this was great for my running, but horrible for my snowshoeing (i only got out once!!! ONCE.) i did long runs (almost) every weekend from about mid january. on the weeks when the weather was acceptable during the week, i’d do a fast 5k run. we skated on our rink at least a few hours a week, and i rode my bike on the trainer at least once or twice a week. good cross training!

my longest run was only 23k and it was NOT a good one. i bonked at about 15k and really really had to pee with nowhere to stop. it was much hotter than i thought and i was way over dressed. that was a bad morning, but i learned how important it was for me to force myself to regularly drink and eat my sharkies, whether i felt like it or not. all the weeks after that one went a lot better, but i was still a little worried that my only really long (longer than 21km) run was bad (and that it wasn’t even long enough!). i was also a little worried about the hills that jon’s uncle (who ran the race too) who ran the race as well used to break bike chains on years ago…

race morning looked grey, but environment canada said it wouldn’t rain until noon. whattadaya know! they were right on this time. it wasn’t as cold as i thought it would be, but i kept my fleece gloves on most of the race – the hat and neck warmer came off. the hills were BAD but i managed to run through them all. my second half was a bit slower than the first (i went out way too fast while running with jon’s uncle before i realized that i really need to slow down if i was going to make it through), but i managed to keep fairly consistent splits.

i loved the energy of the race. the course wasn’t super spectacular until the last 1/3, but the people out on the course were fantastic! it was such a nice change from the races in toronto and ottawa that i have done in the past when the general public just shake their fists at the runners, angry because the roads are closed and traffic is slow. hamilton and burlington really showed them up. almost every family with a house on the route was out in their driveway, tailgating, cheering, passing out fruit, water bottles, even beer in one case. there were people in costumes (the reapers by the cemetery were awesome!), cute kids, old people in wheelchairs, a tin pan “band”, etc. i’d do this one again, just for the awesome feeling.

the last few hundred metres of the race were right outside of Copps Coliseum, the big sports arena in Hamilton. Just as planned, the rocky theme song came on my ipod and i sprinted. the finish line was just inside – the stands were packed with people watching and cheering, which was pretty cool. at 3:26, i was 4 minutes faster than i thought i’d be. now i have a 30K PR and a time to beat next year! now i know that i need to work on hills early on

i love how colourful races are!

today i signed up for two fun races later on this summer:

this half marathon in niagara wine country

a shakespeare themed nighttime 15k race, a week before another 10k i plan to do. i will probably just so this one for fun, but i still hope for a good time.

i don’t regret my november decision one bit anymore! having a race to work towards really got me through grey months, fit and healthy. i haven’t decided if i’m going to do the bike race on the 18th of april or not (i haven’t ridden outside much yet), but if i do decide, i know i at least have the endurance to get through it!

ughhhhhh at least the rain isn’t supposed to start until 12:00. that gives me about 2.5 hours after the race start. i expect to finish in around 3:30 (but who knows! anything could happen)

check out the killer hill right near the end! i have saved my best songs for mile 16, when i’ll need as much extra fire as i can get my feet on!!

the last 200m are inside of Copps Coliseum, the big sports arena here. i hope to have the rocky theme song going as i do my final lap (cliché, i know, but motivating anyway!!).

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we are stopping for a post race lunch on the drive home at a new chain of restaurants: south street burger company. i am excited and can almost taste the milkshake i’m going to have. yum!

gotta get back to my prerace activities – wish me luck!! i’ll be back later with a story.

i am experiencing serious anxiety about this upcoming race. i don’t think i have taken it seriously enough. when i trained for a marathon, i was all business. i did my crazy long runs, i ran 3 times a week, no fooling around. 30k is no marathon (in fact, it’s right at the point where i was ready for my marathon to be over!), but i still haven’t given it the respect it deserves.

ACK!! at least jon will be there to scrape me off the pavement, if required. and i will be wearing a cute outfit.

i am going to face my fear!

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yay! they arrived so quickly. i’m pretty stoked to take them outside later this week for a quick tour around the block. wearing them around the house right now and they feel pretty cool. i like them with socks better! and apparently, i have short toes.

i am recommitting to this blogging thing. again. promise.

here’s what happened in february:

-i went to an awesome book event for one of my newest favourite books, that i have talked about here already: the happiness project. a conversation with the author, the amazing gretchen rubin, and heather from indigo.

i had just gotten to almost the end of my library copy by the time the book event happened, and i knew i wanted to buy my own copy. luckily this was the perfect time because i could have a chat with gretchen and get my copy signed! excuse the terrible pictures! it wasn’t me.

i am taking part in the 2010 happiness challenge, which comes with a monthly theme and weekly things to do (described in 2 minute videos by gretchen, every monday). so far we’ve done things like tackle nagging tasks, fight right, stop expecting praise and appreciation (the hardest), hug more, kiss more, touch more (my favourite). i can feel myself becoming a more pleasant person.

-i started seriously training for around the bay (which is in 21 days!!!) 30k race i am doing at the end of this month.

i’ve gone on 2+ hour training runs, i have done strength training a couple times each week, i’ve started interval training (yasso 800s!) and i have gone swimming once a week, every week since i last posted that i was going to try and get back into swimming.

our winter has been mild – perfect for outdoor runs but not so perfect for snowshoeing. we only have gotten out once so far (i fear this will be our only snowshoe adventure of 2010), but it was epic. 2.5 hours on the mountain biking trails of waterloo. my muscles ached the following two days!

today i’m up to a 21-25k run. i’ve got one more distance week left, and then i cut back in preparation of my taper before the race. edited to add- i ended up being out for 3 hours this morning. brutal. my knees hurt. happily i probably won’t have to do any more ridiculously long runs this year because this 30k race is the longest i am signing up for. everything else is half marathon and below.

soon i will start spending a bit more time on my bike, as the following race is the cyclocross st george to ancaster, where i will ride 35k through mud, rail trails, roads, single track and farm land.

-i went to a wake for a 16 year old who lost a battle with cancer. it was decidedly one of the most sad things i have done. my heart broke for his parents; no one should ever have to go through that.

-i got to interview and help select our summer intern for work. this was particularly exciting, as we went back to my alma mater for the interviews AND i was that summer intern myself, not too many years ago. we didn’t get our first pick, but i am pretty happy with the person who will be showing up in may. it definitely was an experience that made me feel old though!

-i went to a custom bike shop with jon to get his new bike spec-ed out, measured and designed. it was sooo cool! i wanted to share some pictures, but when we arrived, i discovered that my battery was completely out of juice maybe i’ll go back when we pick up the finished product and get some good shots. custom bikes are sweet, but i am definitely not enough of a for real biker to justify getting one, nor would i fully appreciate all the features. i would love a custom paint job though!

-last night, for the first time ever, i drove jon’s standard car home (about 12km) all by myself with no supervision – my maiden voyage. it was a little harrowing at times, since i’m a pretty new driver to begin with, and i’m still learning how to operate the standard vehicle. i stalled only once, drove in the wrong gear once or twice, but, all in all, it wasn’t too bad and i did not crash or die! someday soon i will get more comfortable doing this.

-i proofread jon’s mechanical engineering master’s thesis on deep drawing of warm formed aluminum. “what?” you say. yeah, that’s what i said too. after going through the 100+ pages a few times, combing carefully for missing commas and misplaced subordinating conjunctions, i still don’t really know what deep drawing is all about. that’s ok with me.

-i’m working on my mighty life list, inspired by maggie and karen. i’ll post it when i’m done. so far everything on the list (i’m up to #28 so far) is kind of epic. i think i need a few things that i can get started on right now. ideas?

-i pulled the ice cream maker out of hibernation for a batch of homemade cookies and cream (david lebovitz’s philidelphia vanilla with crushed oreos swirled in at the end). let me tell you, i have missssed ice cream. since we stopped buying it at the store, when i removed the freezer bowl from our freezer, our connection to the creamy cold treat was severed. i’m happy to have it back in my life.

-tomorrow i’m going to my first ever blog meetup (aside from the healthy living summit, which i guess was sort of blog meetup like) that angela is organizing in kensington market, a super cute area of toronto. i’m excited to meet new people, make some new friends (hopefully) and spend some time exploring the city. the weather is supposed to be gorge!

whew. that was long.

as my racing season for 2009 winds down and i transition from my “rest phase” into “base”, i have to look back at what i did this year and what i hope to be able to accomplish next year.

this year was pretty different from last year. in 2008, i ran 1 half marathon in may and spent the rest of my summer building, building, building up mileage for the september marathon. in retrospect, i should have included more mini-peak races and events throughout the summer to keep me rolling and motivated. i got a little tired by the end, and as a result, my marathon performance suffered. i plan to tackle this challenge again in the near future (some day!), hopefully a little smarter and more focused. 2009 included a few new things for me, which i really loved. doing something you’ve never done before is fantastic because it forces you to extend your limits, while still giving you the chance to achieve a personal best no matter what. i hope to do more of this next year.

Recap

a unique point to point cyclocross-style bike race, which mimics the style of the famous paris-roubaix. the actual race starts in paris, ontario and ends in ancaster. 60km through all kinds of terrain: road, rail trail, farm land, mud pit, gravel, single/double track, etc. since this was my first ever bike race, i opted for the shorter 35km race starting in st george. i got to wear the UW cycling jersey that i got for christmas (sorry no pictures!), which made me feel pretty cool. the race was a huge challenge- it was my first time riding in a big group (the starting stretch was paved road, and i tried my best to draft) and riding in my clipless pedals around a lot of other people! there was a ton of climbing and some of the terrain required more technical handling skill (or at least confidence!) than i had. i left my bike computer at home so i had no idea how far i was along the race, which was tough. i ended up finishing in 2:35 (which just a little bit longer than what it took jon to ride from paris to ancaster, almost twice the distance!). there was a very strong headwind. i did have to get off my bike and walk a few spots (and all three mudpits, mostly for logistical reasons though). if i do this race next year (i plan to!), i will try and do a lot more hill conditioning and aim to only get off for the mud.

Ottawa Half Marathon (May 27) Ottawa, ON

First running race of the season. I didn’t have any major goals, but i did hope to tackle the incline a little better this year because it was a total surprise to me (obviously, since they market it at a flat race, but the first half is downhill and the second half is up). while i don’t think i successfully conquered it (my splits were far from negative or even equal), i did better than last year. my time was not better than last year though. the temperature was screaming hot and the race course offers very little shade. additionally, i spent the day before helping out a friend with a bunch of manual labour, which in retrospect was a very poor idea. time: 2:20. this was the second year in a row that i ran this race, and i’m not sure i will do it again. it is poorly organized (there are far more people than the race area can handle) and it is annoying travelling the 5 hours east. i also don’t really love sleeping somewhere that is not a real bed the night before a race. in the future, i will spring for a hotel room.

Slainte End of Summer Downhill 10k (August 29) Hamilton, ON

all of jon’s office mates decided to sign up to do this 10k race together. unfortunately jon had a bike race the following day, so instead, i ran the race so we could still hang out with everyone before and after. it was a pretty fun race. i generally do not enjoy the 10k distance, and therefore have only even ran in one other official 10k race. the course was great- not exactly downhill as promised, since at the last minute, they lost permission to use the route originally planned, but still fairly flat and quite scenic. who knew hamilton was pretty! we ran on trails around the harbour. time: 56:37. i had no goals for this race. the last 10k i did was in 2004. it was my first ever running race and i was extremely ill prepared for it. i think my time was like 1:20 or something, so this blew that right out of the water. it was kind of exhilarating running that fast for an hour. my half marathons don’t give me that same feeling. the rest of the race was fun. we got souvenir beer glasses (that i now drink green monsters out of!) and free beer and food at the pub after, where a U2 tribute band played. i’d do it again. it’s these kinds of mini-events that i need to stay motivated through the summer, i think, since serious races are split into early spring and early fall, and nothing too long in between.

Scotiabank Waterfront Half Marathon (September 27) Toronto, ON

I have done this race many years in a row. Last year I did the full marathon version. It is flat and fast, and because it is such a big race, it attracts some super fast elites and has a really great entertainment/cheering scene along the way. My goal for this race was to not feel like crap at the end. I was supposed to stick to my nutrition and hydration strategy (lots of sips of Heed and a sharkie or two every mile). The weather was kind of drizzly and grey, which wasn’t super motivating for me, but actually was quite pleasant to run in. A huge improvement on the heat I experienced in Ottawa. Time: 2:16. I will probably do this race again next year. It is scheduled at a pretty good time of the year. It is pretty convenient to get to and I like the course (which goes right along the shore of Lake Ontario)

and finally,

The Goodlife Toronto Half Marathon (October 18) Toronto, ON

I decided to do this race pretty late in the season. I was originally planning to end later in November with a very small half marathon at a local golf club. I decided that this race would be a little more exciting. unlike most of my other races, this was a point to point race. we started in uptown toronto and ended downtown, at queen’s park, where the ontario provincial legislature sits. this posed some logistical challenges (where to park the car? how to get back?), but in the end, it worked out great. the start was only 20 minutes away from my house, and we found free parking! i took the subway back to our car and jon rode his bike back up. the course was alright- not super exciting, but not too boring either. some parts of toronto are a little smelly, which is never good when you are pushing yourself this hard. i had studied the maps pretty thoroughly the day before, so i was quite prepared. this was my first race using my new garmin 305, which i absolutely adore. Time: 2:13. I was a little disappointed that I was unable to push myself for the 2:10 but still happy with my performance. I was most pleased, however, with how good i felt at the end. I stuck to my drinking water and eating sharkies every 15 minutes (auto alert is soo useful!). we walked a few blocks to a poutine restaurant where i rewarded myself with smoked bacon poutine. yum! i would consider doing this race again.

Looking ahead

Next year I plan to try and incorporate more new things while working to improve my targets from this year. I’ve already got the March 30km race lined up. I will likely do St George to Ancaster again. I’ll probably fit a couple half marathons in. I also hope to maybe finally get to do a sprint or olympic triathlon and maybe a beginner cyclocross race. I hope to finally break the 2:10 barrier for my half marathon. My other goals are to finish strong and have fun. My base training throughout the winter will likely include lots of time on my bike (attached to my trainer). I plan to get out and do at least one or two runs outside each week, weather conditions permitting. There will be lots of yoga and strength training work for flexibility and solid muscles. I haven’t put together a formal plan yet, but I’ll be working on that with jon’s help over the next few weeks. We’ll see how it goes!

What’s your plan for staying fit this winter?

for the first time ever, ecto has betrayed me! i just wrote an awesome post about a crazy thing i did and then i decided to get all fancy and try and insert my newest favourite song and poof! all my pictures and text gone. just like that. i seem to also be having server issues. double boo!

bah.

i am not a spontaneous person, generally, but here is the crazy that i decided to do this week:

oh yes. march 28. thirty kilometres. in hamilton, ontario (home of dofasco). it will probably still be snowing here at that time! i do not belong to a gym, so i will be doing many outdoor runs this winter. hello, project snow. this is the oldest race in north america! i started 3 years before boston, in 1894. i’m pumped to be part of the history. jon’s office mate has also signed up, but she is a lot faster than i am. i’ve never done a 30k before so as slow as i go, it’ll still be a personal record. (i guess i did run 30km in my marathon, but then i had to run 12 more! i hope that my time next year is at least a bit faster)

the week turned around. surprisingly, the christmas decorations that are popping up everywhere are making me excited about the holidays (more on our plans to come!). i had to pop into babyGap to pick up a few things for some new (and not so new) babies. holy crap the cuteness. i nearly died. few things are as cute as teeny tiny baby sleepers.

happiness project is progressing. i cheated a bit on yoga tonight (only did a 5 minute class!) but i got a huge organizational task out of the way, so i’ll give myself a break. 5 minutes of yoga is better than no yoga! i found this awesome song that i love. it makes me want to dance around. you should listen. it’s called merry happy and it is by kate nash. and it is fun fun!

time for bed.