This week has just flown by. But time spent at my parents' house always does. I've been so busy that I realized today that I'd completely forgotten to blog this week. I guess that's a good sign - I've been too busy with real life to write. And thankfully, it's all good busy. So today, you get five random things... Today Jones and I fly home to Virginia. I'm looking forward to being home, but I also always wish I was staying here. It's been awesome spending two weeks with only one child. I haven't gotten to do this since he was 4! We got to check out the International Crane Foundation, the Minnesota Zoo, and the National Eagle Center. He's a good kid and he's starting to explore college options (GAH!) and we both survived him taking econ … [Read more...]
August Coffee Date: Pour me another, please!
It always amazes me how fast the months slip by. It's hard to believe I wrote my last "coffee date" post from New Zealand. We've been back 3 weeks and I still feel like I'm trying to catch up. Apparently, taking two full weeks off from life does not work well for me. Anyways, I’m joining up with my friends Deborah and Coco for a virtual coffee date as well as linking up with Running on Happy and Fairytales and Fitness for Friday Five 2.0. If we were having coffee, I'd tell you that I haven't made it to bed before 1am in over a week. And it's not like I'm sleeping in - I've gotten up in time to run at 6:30am a couple of days and I've had early commitments several days. I live for the few days I've gotten to sleep in, but … [Read more...]
Add some ZING to your summer with OLD BAY Seasoning
This post was sponsored by OLD BAY. All opinions and recipes are my own. I've spent most of my adult life living within an easy drive of the Chesapeake Bay, where OLD BAY seasoning is a fixture in cooking. I can't remember a time when I didn't know what OLD BAY was. It's been a regular seasoning option for seafood for what seems like forever. I have a lot of fond memories of OLD BAY and beach weekends from college onward. It seemed like OLD BAY always brought us together for fun times and good food. But it's not just a seafood seasoning. When I asked my Facebook friends what they like to use OLD BAY on, one actually responded with "wouldn't the list be shorter if I just told you what I DON'T use it on?" OK, then. Suggestions … [Read more...]
Favorite photos from Australia and New Zealand
I'm not gonna lie. Our vacation was AMAZING. But I've been home since Sunday and I'm still struggling to recover. The almost 16 hour flight from Sydney to Houston, coupled with the layover and then 3.5 hour flight from Houston to DC wore me out completely. Add in the fact that it's literally day and night difference in time (14 hour difference) and I've got the worst case of jetlag I've ever experienced. The first couple of days I also kept having issues with equilibrium. (You know how you feel the world is moving when you get off of a boat? I had that for about 36 hours after I got off the plane.) On the bright side, I've been waking up at 5:30am every morning, so I've gotten some early runs in. On the not so bright side, that means I've … [Read more...]
Getting coffee halfway around the world
It's time for a coffee date, international style. I’m joining up with my friends Deborah and Coco for a virtual coffee date (they are both local to me – I should meet up for a real coffee date…) I’m also linking up with Running on Happy and Fairytales and Fitness for Friday Five 2.0. If we were having coffee, I'd tell you that this trip has been amazing! We've been to Auckland and Rotorua in New Zealand and to Nelson Bay and Sydney in Australia. For some reason, despite not having been here in 20 years, Sydney always feels like coming home. In fact, we immediately went for a beer at a brewery we enjoyed the last time we were here. If we were having coffee, I'd tell you that we've had an amazing mix of kid oriented and adult … [Read more...]
Happy 10 Year Blogiversary to MCM Mama!
Ten years ago, I sat down and created my little space on the web on Blogger. Back then the blog was MCM Mama and the whole point was to make it so that Beer Geek did not have to listen to me talk constantly about my training for my first Marine Corps Marathon. So, some might say that this blog was a marriage saver. The last ten years have been an exciting ride. I've put a lot of time and energy into it, but in a lot of ways, I've gotten way more out of it. I've had some amazing experiences, I've made some wonderful friends, and I've gotten some lasting opportunities. When I first started blogging, you couldn't respond to comments. You had to go to the person's blog and comment there if you wanted to have a conversation. Most of my … [Read more...]
A different kind of race: NASCAR
A couple of weeks ago, I got contacted by the marketing department of the Richmond Raceway, asking if I'd like to attend a race. They offered me free tickets to suite, a pit pass, and a parking pass. Once I ascertained that I could take my 12 year old as my guest, I was on board. Shoo and I headed down on Friday evening and stayed with friends and then I snuck in a quick half marathon on Saturday before we headed over. Short story: NASCAR at Richmond Raceway was a ton of fun! Here are 5 highlights from the event: The race itself. Shoo used to be a NASCAR fan when he was little, but we didn't really know any of the drivers or cars anymore. So, he and his buddy just picked a car to cheer on and had a blast … [Read more...]
Practicing Self Care in my 40s
I read an article recently about how self care is not all spa trips and girls' night outs. It's more about doing things that make your whole life better rather than trying to recover from a life that's wearing you down. I realized that many of the changes I've been making in my life in the last 6 months had exactly that goal. I was tired of feeling run down and stressed and I started making some changes. I'm still very much a work in progress and there are definitely areas that are as yet untouched, but I feel like I'm moving in the right direction now. (Links below may be affiliate links that if you use them to buy, I get commission.) I joined the Faster Way to Fat Loss program. I've been struggling with balancing running and my … [Read more...]
Strategies for getting to bed earlier
This post contains affiliate links, which means I get a commission if you buy through the link. Note that the title of this post is not Strategies for Getting More Sleep. Oh, no, that's an entirely different issue (and one I will address in another post.) But in order to get more sleep, you need to get to bed. Period. And that's been a weakness of mine, given that I'm a major night owl. Lately, though, my usual 6 hours a night is not cutting it - I struggle to get up in the morning and I doze off mid day. Also, the Faster Way to Fat Loss program I've been using, regularly reminds us that sleep is essential for muscle growth and body changes. So, I've been working really hard to get to bed at 11 every night. Here are the steps I've … [Read more...]
Green Enough by Leah Segedie – Book Review
Disclaimer: I received this book free in exchange for a review. If you purchase from various links below, I will make a commission. I don't talk on here often about my crunchy granola chick tendencies. After all, this is a running blog, not a parenting or green living blog. But in my daily life, I try to make choices that are good for the environment and good for my family. We buy grass fed beef from a local farmer, I get organic produce as much as possible, my husband takes his lunch in reusable bags/containers, vinegar is my favorite cleaning agent, and I recently started replacing all of my beauty products with Beautycounter items. (And Shoo was born at home, but I'm not sure if that helped the environment LOL) But I'm not … [Read more...]
Because coffee is its own food group…
Have you ever had a week where you are pretty sure that without coffee you would have fallen asleep standing up? This was definitely one of those weeks. I've been really good at getting a decent amount of sleep lately, until this week. The combination of a short month (which meant cramming my usual number of miles and usual work hours into fewer days) plus Beer Geek being on travel (so there was no one to tell me to go to bed) meant I saw 1am on the clock every night this week. Oops. Good thing I recently got a coffee delivery and have enough to keep ALL of us awake now. Anyways, I'm joining up with my friends Deborah and Coco for a virtual coffee date as well as linking up with Running on Happy and Fairytales and Fitness for Friday Five … [Read more...]
Excited to be 2018 Skirt Sports Ambassador!
You all know my love of Skirt Sports. I probably spend more than 50% of my life wearing some piece of Skirt Sports gear (and now that they have the Hangout Pants, it might be higher.) But it's not just the clothes I love (and you know I love my Happy Girls!) It's the people. Nicole DeBoom is the bomb. And Noelle, the amazing Ambassador Wrangler (not her actual title), has become my BFF. And the other ambassadors? So many have become close friends, even some I've never actually met in person. (I need all of y'all to move to DC, m'kay?) So to celebrate another year with an amazing company that has incredible products and awesome people, here are 5 of my favorite Skirt Sports pictures. Want to try out a … [Read more...]
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