Popsugar - Who Knew?!

Meg had received a Popsugar subscription as a birthday/Christmas present last year and had been trying to convince me that I needed to subscribe as well.  I finally broke down and now I’m hooked.  I’ve been enjoying the first of my six-month subscription and I’m pretty sure that I’ll be giving Popsugar subscriptions as Christmas presents this year.  I mean, seriously, who doesn’t love receiving mail – especially when it’s cool little fashion finds?!

And the 21st Birthday Celebration Continues

Let’s be clear.  She’s getting older.  I am not.  She may be 21, but I am just 21 and change (a lot of change….but who’s counting, right?).

For her 21^st birthday, we originally planned to go to Vegas (similar to Rory and Lorelai who went to Atlantic City and played 21 when Rory turned 21.  If you don't follow the Gilmore Girls, then can we even be friends?).  But Meg’s been to Vegas a few times already and it wasn’t as exciting to her to celebrate her big birthday there.  Instead, she asked if we could do Napa and enjoy wine and good food.  Are you kidding me? That’s a dream trip, right?  But before we could square away the plans, she changed her mind and asked if we could instead have a weekend trip to Gervasi Vineyard and invite a few of her college girlfriends to toast the big birthday.  Turned out to be a perfect choice.

The girls arrived and we enjoyed a bottle of wine in the lobby of our villa before going over to dinner.  It was nice to just unwind from our drives and catch up.  Dinner was strange, to say the least, because our waiter went into panic mode not knowing who was 21 and who was not.  Instead of simply handling this by “carding” everyone, he just panicked and didn’t come back to our table for over 20 minutes.  Seriously? This was not the wonderful experience I was hoping we would all have.  Eventually, we managed to get our food, but we only saw him one other time to check on us.  Pretty crappy server experience (although the food was delicious) so thank goodness the rooms and the lobby would soon make up for that.

After dinner, the girls opened their goody bags.  When you’re a little kid, every mom gives out goody bags to the kids before leaving a birthday party.  You usually got stickers, or bubbles, or a small toy.  For these girls, I had to be a little more clever.  Each got a face mask, lipstick, face wipes, champagne, and hair bands and other little girly things.  What I didn’t expect is that they would all bust out the face masks, don their robes and have a slumber party! What a great evening of face masks, robes, wine and cupcakes and doritos (a little know fact: doritos have no calories when it's your birthday).  We then broke out the games and played Headbanz for adults and had the best evening!

Happy 21st Birthday, Pumpkin!

Even though she's away at college, there was no way I was going to let her celebrate her 21st birthday and us not be together.  So I planned a little surprise.  I texted Meg that I had her favorite coffee drink waiting for her at Kofenya and she just had to run up there, tell the barista, and it was my way of making sure we shared a coffee drink on her birthday (she thought I was in Cleveland).  She showed up at Kofenya, thinking she was just "picking up her coffee" and instead, I surprised her by actually being there.  Best part was hearing her scream, "Mom!" across the coffee house...and then we both hugged, cried a little and sat there just like Lorelai and Rory at Luke's Diner enjoying coffee on her birthday.

I can't believe you're 21...time moves way too fast.  Love you, pumpkin!

Another Halloween Race in the Bag

I love our little tradition of running a Halloween race in costume.  B and I have been doing this since our first race in 2010 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with me pushing B throug a hilly 10k race.  This year, we ran the Brecksville 5k Trick or Trot race and B was amazing.  We both made our costumes this year - she was Batman (Batgirl!) and I was Robin (oh, the irony, I know).  Best of all, she scored her first PR by besting her previous 5k time by 2 minutes!  So next year, the goal is to break 39:xx!

San Antonio and ACL 2014

Flew into San Antonio for two reasons: 1) significant savings on the flight in and out of SA versus Austin; and 2) never been there.  While Greg made every effort to ensure this would be a nice little day trip, B was sick and it just wasn’t happening.  We managed to squeeze in the river walk, even had a nice lunch, but she was in and out of sleeping from her fever that we accomplished little else on the tourist side.  The kid’s a trooper, though, since she managed to rally just enough.

ACL did not disappoint.

We are not a family that leaves the kids at home.  We have raised our girls to behave well in public and to appreciate all the exciting opportunities out there.  They go to museums, art shows, evening dinners at nice restaurants and rock concerts.  Meg’s first concert was at 5 (Backstreet Boys) and B’s first concert was at 4 months (John Mayer).

Friday, we enjoyed Sam Smith, Childish Gambino, Foster the People, Beck and Outkast.  Great lineup for day one. I gotta say, Beck surprised me.  His vocals were so deep and powerful.  I wasn't expecting much, but was impressed.

Saturday, I finally got to see Interpol in concert (love them).  However, Saturday’s best performance would have to go to the Avett Brothers – Wow!  Banjo playing at its finest. We also enjoyed Head and the Heart, Iggy Azalea, Lana Del Ray, Broken Bells, and Eminem (he was the big reason for me on Saturday).

Sunday, Fitz and the Tantrums would have to be my favorite and clearly Greg was here for Pearl Jam.  We also were treated to performance by Spoon, Phantogram, Zedd, and Calvin Harris.

What we loved about Austin.

·         Pedicabs.  B loved her first ride in a pedicab with Greg, while Meg and I rapped to Ice Cube on our ride. I’m pretty sure our pedicab driver will forever be scarred by our mother-daughter duet!

·         Bloody Marys and Craft Beer.  A couple years ago, Greg and I found this great little place a short walk from our hotel that serves THE BEST BLOODY MARY.  The craft beer tent at ACL may have been the biggest luxury item for this family (including Meg, who had previously been on a steady college diet of Natty Light).

·         Brunch and lazing around till the afternoon acts got on stage.

·         Hot Yoga at Wanderlust Yoga Studio.  Got to share this with Meg and she was forever changed by it.

·         Just being together.  Love our family trips.

Can’t wait till the 2015 ACL line-up is posted!

Hello, Sunshine!

Growing Up in the Jogging Stroller

The jogging stroller was the best investment we've made.  It has logged in thousands of miles carting B places and races and many adventures.

Below shows her growing up, beginning in 2007 and ending with a Memorial Day race in May 2013.  She eventually became too big and too heavy for me to push, but what a wonderful journey we've had!

Top left: October 2007 in DC at my Marine Corps Marathon.  Top right: August 2008 in Cleveland.
Bottom left: August 2009 in Oregon at Voodoo Donuts.  Bottom right: October 2010 in New Mexico after our Day of the Dead 10k race.

To Left: at the Girls with Sole race in June 2010.  Top right: in Savannah, GA in 2011 at a 5k halloween race.
Bottom left: falling asleep after one of my runs in the Metroparks in 2012.  Bottom right: at our last race in May 2013 in Cleveland.

Throwback Thursday: Megan

Hard to believe how young this girl looks.

2007 with the biggest slice of chocolate cake - Mmmm!