by the numbers

1. 38 days of school left
2. 6 teacher work days left
3. 55 days of summer vacation
4. 42.3 miles run in April
5. 312.2 miles run in 2015 (a bit behind schedule for 100/month)
6. 6 days in a row without running last week
7. 2 days until we get to hear Ben Folds
8. 13 books read in 2015 (a bit behind schedule for 1/week)
9. 2 weeks until my next race
10. 9:54 am the time that my chicken salad sandwich was eaten from my lunchbox this morning
11. 1 week until my next giveaway
12. 25 minutes it took me to read JK Rowling's most recent book
13. 25 pounds I'd like to lose (probably related to number 10)
14. 7 episodes watched of Parenthood so far
15. 2 movies we're going to see in the next week (one at RiverRun Film Festival and one pre-screening of War Room)
16. 2:22:02 my best half marathon time which also happens to be Shalane Flanagan's best Boston Marathon time (HA!)
17. $360 the amount of money it costs to register early for the Goofy Challenge at the Walt Disney World Marathon
18. 38 gifts I've bought for my husband's 38th birthday
19. 4 weekends available in our condo at the beach during the next month
20. 1,210,033 people in Costco yesterday

what I wore + a question I need help with

Here are a few of my outfits over the last couple of weeks. I go through spurts where I actually care what I wear and other times when I really don't give a flip. I'm inspired by all of the cute "What I Wore Wednesday" posts I see all over the internet and I decided to document sporadically what I've been wearing. It's actually been making me a little more intentional about choosing better outfits... but admittedly not much. :) And this post makes me pretty uncomfortable so if you leave a comment please be kind.

You can tell khaki pants are my standard go-to for work and I love the color blue. I'm going to work on wearing more dresses and skirts now that the weather is warming up.

Finally, here's what I'm wearing today. My question for you is, would you wear white pants before Memorial Day or is that even a thing anymore? Please help a girl out.

incentives for grades, etc + why I believe running is good for my children

When I was growing up, my parents certainly believed in incentives. My dad is a forward-thinking man that's not afraid to do something a little different than everyone else and he is very financially motivated. He would often come up with ideas to try to convince my sister and I to behave a certain way or perform some way in particular. We were paid for good grades and even though that often came in the form of I.O.U. notes in our money jar I was still somehow a good student.

I don't think it was the money alone that convinced me to do well in school although I'm sure it helped. I think overall it was the expectation that my parents had that I do well. Nevertheless, the money didn't hurt their cause and I rarely got a C on a report card and I never got a D or an F.

This is the first year that Julianna has gotten a report card with actual grades on it. In Forsyth County students in Kindergarten through second grade only get report cards with E, S, N, and Us on them but when they finally reach third grade (the big year when state testing begins) their report cards show both a number and a letter grade (A, B, C, D, or F).

For Kindergarten, first, and second grade we rewarded Julianna with a special outing every time she received a good report card. We'd let her pick somewhere out of the ordinary that she wanted to go and then we'd do it. Josh just got to come along for fun. Usually she picked roller skating, ice skating, putt-putt, or Chuck E. Cheese. This worked pretty well for us and she never brought home what we considered to be a poor report card.

Now that she's in third grade, receiving actual number grades, and in HAG we really felt like rewarding her with something more when she brought home a first quarter report card that was straight As. Jonathan decided to give her money for each A and she was thrilled.

The new school and the challenge of being in a gifted classroom where suddenly she is not the smartest in the class has been really difficult for Jules. We're a little over halfway through the school year and there have been quite a few nights we've been in tears because she's felt like it has been a lot of work and she's also felt frustration at not understanding new concepts especially when the others in her class seem to understand. Mom and Dad have had added stress from the number of projects required outside of class.

Even so, we've tried to only pressure her to do her best and not worry about her project grades, not worry about the other kids, just be satisfied that's she's done what she's capable of. We've tried to emphasize that grades are important because they impact your future but they're more important because they indicate how YOU can perform and how hard YOU work. I hope we've gotten the point across that the end result is not as important to us as the process she takes to get there. If she's happy with how hard she's worked, then I can be happy with that. She brought home straight As on her second quarter report card and we paid her for those As as well.

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A year or so ago when Julianna did the Run for God 5k with us I had the idea that perhaps I should pay her for running. I briefly discussed it with Jonathan and he didn't think it was as good of an idea as I did so we nixed it and went on with life. We all ran the 5k, Julianna placed first in her age group (pictures on that page linked above), and she has run off and on since then (the last year and a half).

Over Christmas break this past year I started thinking about how I could encourage my kids to get moving some more. Again, the idea popped into my head to offer a paid incentive for them to run around the neighborhood with me. Without being in the regular habit of meeting for Run for God, the kids had really gotten out of the habit of exercising at all other than what little they do at school. (What little exercise they actually get at school is a whole other soapbox topic that I could spout off about on another day.) Plus, Julianna had recently taken the dog on several walks and I thought maybe she'd like to do it more if I offered to pay her.

I talked with Jonathan again and he said he would support it if I wanted to pay them $1/mile so I told the kids that I wanted to give them $1 for every mile they ran this year. They seemed indifferent at the time but they weren't going to argue with someone offering to give them money.

Now every time they say they're bored I ask if they want to go run around the neighborhood with me. Most of the time they don't want to go. I still believe that they'll run more this year than if I hadn't offered to pay them.

Here's why I believe my kids should be encouraged to run and rewarded when they do.

Community
I talked about the sense of community that running fosters here. It's important to me that my children see the relationships that running builds. When you feel like you're a part of something bigger than yourself it makes you want to be a better person. When you relate to total strangers because you have shared interests it makes you feel good and there's a huge bolster in morale when you receive encouragement from someone who doesn't know you from Adam. My kids may never win awards or break records, I surely don't, but they can also be a part of a special family that cheers for each other and lifts each other up.

Coping With Stress
Running Helps Young Girls Cope With Pre-Teen Stress. We don't often realize it but our kids are under a lot of stress too. "Adolescent girls are twice as likely as boys to suffer anxiety and depression," says the article. "Running skills such as breathing and endurance help girls connect with themselves at a time in their lives when they are under pressure to conform." Anybody can run, but young girls especially can benefit from it.

Builds Confidence and Lifts Mood
Running makes you feel powerful. It makes you feel like you can do anything. When you complete a tough run you get a huge confidence boost and wonder why you ever thought you couldn't do it. When you're thinking, "should have," "could have," or "would have" all the time it's hard to have high self-esteem. On the other hand when you're thinking, "I can't believe I just..." it's hard not it. Plus, I know my husband can take one look at me when I've had a bad day and he'll simply say, "You need to go for a run" and we'll need all the help we can get with mood swings as my daughter enters adolescence.

Perseverance
Running teaches lessons about quitting, endurance, and perseverance, all lessons that could not be more valuable in life.

Heart Health
Running is simply good for our hearts. Our hearts are muscular organs that have to be worked in order to stay strong. Running works our heart muscles and helps us stay fit. Running helps us maintain a healthy weight. In addition, kids who play sports are also less likely to smoke later in life which might prevent heart disease.

Quality Time
My love language is quality time and running with my kids allows us to spend quality time together. We can talk about whatever they want when we run together just like my training group and I complain about our busy weeks, our aches and pains, and discuss the latest books we've read. If they don't already, my kids will come to realize that they have my undivided attention when we run together and that is time well spent.

Healthy Competition
Running teaches you to compete with yourself more than you compete with others. The only person you have to be better than is the person you were yesterday. A mile is a mile no matter if it takes you twelve minutes or six minutes.

Athletes Perform Better in School
Time and time again studies have shown that athletes do better in school. They have higher grades and better attendance. Of course, this goes for all sports but runners are not excluded. When you're involved in sports your coaches encourage (or require) you to keep your grades up. There are extra tutors available. You have to be at school in order to compete in the games. Because you are disciplined enough to be an athlete, you are typically disciplined enough to do well academically.

Running is Flexible
My daughter has played soccer, softball, taken dance, and gymnastics at one point or another and she may or may not stick with those throughout her life but she can always run. She won't have to wait for the season to start and she won't have to wait for the right location or lesson. She can just run. And I hope she does.

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I don't think I've ever mentioned it on my blog, but in 2010 when Julianna was just four and a half she ran her first timed race. It was the Mission Mile put on by Fleet Feet and benefited the Winston-Salem Rescue Mission. Jonathan and I did the 5k I believe and Julianna ran the one mile race.

At this point in her life she really hadn't participated in organized sports. She had taken dance and played soccer at a little camp but the girl wanted a trophy or a medal and she hadn't gotten one yet. Honestly, we wanted to do the race so we (selfishly?) talked it up to her and then we ordered her a medal ahead of time since we knew they wouldn't be giving them out for this race. It was only a couple of dollars from Oriental Trading Company.

She ran that whole stinkin' mile until she rounded the corner and came upon the finish line. All of those people gathered at the end cheering near the finish line corral overwhelmed her and scared her to the point of stopping in the middle of the street and refusing to move again for several minutes. Other runners passed us over and over again as we stood there looking at each other, me begging her to move. She turned and would have run off the course if she'd known where to go. I reached for her hand but she wouldn't come forward any more.

I never wanted to write about this publicly because I know it would embarrass her. The thing is that there are few times that I've been as proud of her. Somehow she got over the shock of seeing all of those people looking at her and she finished the race. I don't know how much the medal played a part of her finding the courage to run those last few meters to the finish line, but I do know that it's one thing I told her about to try to encourage her to get going again. For whatever reason, the kid finished her race and we gave Jules her medal. Proudly.

I want to know:
How do you reward your children? 
Do you use incentives to try to encourage your kids to behave a certain way?
Do you think I'm crazy for agreeing to pay my kids $1/per mile run this year?
Finally, how much do you think they've earned so far?

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Don't forget about my review of Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand or entering the giveaway for a $25 certificate to Family Christian. Hurry! Contest closes Friday at midnight!

up to

reading - 
I've just finished Siblings Without Rivalry which is a book about how to help your kids get along. I didn't realize (I guess ignorantly) how much influence I had over this as a parent.  I'm also getting ready to start Unbroken and will have a review up for that this weekend. Next on my list include a book by Jen Lancaster and The Unwanteds which I've heard is a good cross between The Hunger Games and Harry Potter. Although we all know that no book can compete with those two, I'm willing to try to find one.

hosting - 
My #DisneySide party is coming up this weekend. I'll write up a complete post next week but I am so excited getting all of the preparations done this week. The anticipation of seeing everyone enjoying the party is killing me and we got these adorable Mickey Brownie Pops that we've been practicing. So much fun!!!

thinking - 
I wish I could do this again. It was so much fun when Jonathan and I went before but I just don't know when we'd find the time to do it over the next couple of months. Life is just so busy sometimes! It would really be fun to do with a group of girls too so maybe I'll plan for it sometime in advance and see if anyone wants to come.

wearing - 
My mom, sister, and husband all ganged up on me because they were tired of seeing me wear my LL Bean coat from Christmas 1994 and they bought me an early birthday gift... a new coat! It's so nice and fluffy and much more in style than my previous one.

celebrating - 
We've been celebrating a week or two of no 3rd grade projects plus super duper report cards at our house. We used to let Julianna pick a fun activity to do to celebrate her good grades but the past couple of times we've given her money for them. It's working pretty well, I think, and it gives her the opportunity to celebrate whichever way she wants.

considering - 
I keep thinking about running this 24 hour race in May. Some friends of ours have done it before and are recruiting a relay team to run for 24 hours. You camp in a field and run as many 5k loops with your team as you can in 24 hours. Sounds fun but I don't know if I can convince Jonathan and scrounge up the $100 registration fee.

by the numbers

January 2015 (so far) by the numbers

• 71.3 miles run (7% of 2015 goal complete)
• 1 race completed (no PR, but a nice 3 hours by myself)
• 3 books read (Overrated, Landline, and Andrew's Brain... fabulous, pretty good, and just OK)
• 89 days of school left (WAY too many)
• 1 movie watched (American Sniper... loved it)
• 1 third grade project completed (multiplication board game... why didn't you guys tell me that HAG projects were no joke?!)
• 1 preschool spirit week completed (including homemade superhero and NC State costumes)
• 12174892 consignment sale items to tag before tomorrow

What's a number that has meaning for you this month? What are you looking forward to and how many days until it gets here?

up to

Wishing

• We haven't been anywhere since July 4th so a nice beach trip would be wonderful right about now. This is my favorite time of the year to go to the beach but our condo is rented up until the end of September. I hope we can squeeze in a trip in October.
• Today is an early release day in our schools. We've not had this before in our county and the last county that I worked in had them but teachers got out later than a typical school day because they were crammed full of meetings. I am crossing my fingers that is not the case today.
• We've been in the market for a new car for a couple of months now and we think we have finally made a deal on one that's coming to a local dealership September 24th. Since our other cars are all having a few hiccups September 24th can't get here soon enough.
• Julianna is still trying to adjust to a new school and make new friends and she's scheming to start a loom bracelet business. She made up a contract to pass out among her classmates in case there was anyone who wanted to help her. It really made me smile, but I'm hopeful that her 3rd grade business plan doesn't cause any problems or huge disappointments.

Running

• I realized today that there are only 5 more LONG long runs before my marathon. We have a few 14 mile recovery days left on the schedule but only 5 runs are 18+ miles. Yikes!
• I've had some good speedwork days lately, but my long runs have been horrible. This fact has made me really nervous for those last five long runs. Gotta step up my training!

Eating

• I've lost 7 pounds since I started back to work four weeks ago. I'm almost certainly going to win my current DietBet and that feels so good.
• I'm probably going to keep up the sensible eating but not focus so much on moving the scale for the rest of the marathon training.
• I made sweet potatoe chips in the dehydrator the other night. They were supposed to be salt and vinegar but they really turned out more like regular potato chips. Still delicious!

Reading

• I've recently finished Pure by Julianna Baggot, 10 Things for Teen Girls by Kate Conner (giveaway closes tomorrow! go enter to get a copy!), and now I'm working on two Ted Dekker books. He is one of my all time favorite authors and I've got a great giveaway coming up for one of those as well so stay tuned.
• Julianna's class has been reading City of Ember and I've got it in my queue. Has anyone read this book? I'm anxious to read along with her.

Watching

• I've been closing out the summer with mindless TV aka Big Brother.
• I'm super pumped about The Maze Runner coming out in theaters next week. Anyone want to babysit so I can go see it?
• We're finally about to finish House of Cards which we've been watching slowly. We lost interest for a while in the middle but picked it back up again when we had nothing better to watch and in my opinion it's gotten back to being as entertaining as it was in the beginning.
• I feel like I ask this all the time, but I really need some show recommendations. We loved Breaking Bad, Orange Is The New Black was decent, we're sad that HIMYM's final season hasn't come out on Netflix yet, and when we watch the last episode of House of Cards we'll need something else to start watching. Take it away, folks! What do you watch on TV?

teen things + giveaway

As a middle school teacher, I am all too familiar with the struggles teen girls face everyday. Ladies, do you remember what it was like to want to wear a top that your Mama took one look at and declared, "Absolutely not!"  Do you remember how you felt when your best friend made a hurtful comment about your friendship and all you wanted to do was retaliate by trying to make everyone in the whole school see how stuck up she acts? Do you remember thinking about nothing else other than how you look?

I remember those feelings all too well and with an almost nine year old daughter I'm afraid I'm getting close to reliving those feelings all over again. That's why I was so excited to read 10 Things for Teen Girls by Kate Conner. In each chapter of the book she lays out one topic that young girls today struggle with and she breaks it down to what's really at the heart of the matter. She quotes scripture but doesn't force it down your throat and she leaves you with a truth. The end of each chapter offers journaling or discussion questions which makes it a great book for a group or for a gift for a girl you know.

I picked up this book and read it in a couple of days. It wouldn't be a long, tedious read for a young girl so you won't get an eye roll (especially 'cause there's adorable stick figure drawings all throughout the book). The author's got a great sense of humor and she shoots straight from the hip, but not in an offensive way. I think her writing style is one that will resonate well with teenagers and I highly recommend the book for anyone who has a teen daughter or works with one.

And now for the fun part! Family Christian has generously provided a copy of the book for one of you. The giveaway is limited to the US and a winner will be chosen Thursday night. You can enter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post but was provided a copy of the book. The views expressed above are simply my own opinions.

happy for Friday

I've had such a crazy week.  The first week of school is always exhausting because it's well, the first week of school but it's also because it always comes right after a week of long hours for me. Last week I had long workdays full of meetings and three night-time opens houses to attend between my own school and my children's schools.

My running has been pitiful. I fall asleep on the couch as soon as I sit down at 9 pm each night.  I know things will get easier once the school year gets underway a little more and the routine is established, but for now it's just been hard. Nevertheless, here are some things that have been making me happy this week.

This is my produce box from Terrasol Farms.  It was only $15 and had gobs of local produce. The bell pepper alone was larger than my entire hand.

My girl has been struggling to adjust to a new school and a much more challenging environment.  She's a bit scared, a lot overwhelmed, and just generally tired herself but she made me the sweetest card on the first day and she's really taking it all in strides so I think we'll be OK.

Josh, on the other hand has been at his new school for over a week now. He seems to like it pretty well. At first he hated that they took naps every day but I think he's gotten used to it. He even kinda likes that they give him a short homework assignment each night.

I got my hair cut a week and a half ago and I still love it.

Also, NC teachers get paid today and while I have many complaints about how the salaries were determined for this year I did indeed get a raise (albeit small) and I'd forgotten how good it felt to get a pay raise.

This weekend is a long weekend! Hooray!

What's making you happy this week?

then and now

First Day of School 2011:

First Day of School 2012:

First Day of School 2013:

First Day of School 2014:

links I love

Pottermore: JK Rowling writes new Harry Potter story featuring 'greying' 33-year-old wizard

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Why So Many Kids Can't Sit Still in School Today

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Gone Girl Official Trailer

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Mipso performs "When I'm Gone"

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How cool is this? This is my church, y'all! Summit at the Ballpark.

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I know you're tired of hearing it, but I can't say enough good things about these training programs.

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Bonus Video:

(HINT: It's most definitely worth the click and the subsequent 8 seconds of your life.)

a book hidden in a nook that I took to a teacher

When Julianna was in Kindergarten I saw an idea on Pinterest that I knew I wanted to copy. It was a graduation gift for your child and all it was was a copy of Dr. Seuss' Oh The Places You'll Go that you have all of your kid's teachers sign throughout the years and then present to them with a letter from you on their graduation day.

I got a copy of the book and I had her Kindergarten and First grade teachers sign it and then I proceeded to lose the book. Well, what I really mean is that I quickly snatched it up and put it away in a nice hiding spot one day when Julianna discovered it on my bookshelf and then I promptly forgot where that hiding spot was.

I guess it didn't matter that I'd hidden it anyway because this year, the end of second grade, I completely forgot about it altogether.  In fact, we were playing in the floor with the kids one night this week and Jonathan stopped abruptly and looked at me and slowly said, "oh the places you'll...." and all the while he's staring at me and raising his eyebrows. It hit me like a train.

I quickly emailed her teacher and explained that I knew she might not get this email since school was already out and I'm sorry to impose on her break if she does get it but that I needed a really big favor.  Then we started looking for the book.

It took two days to find. It was still in the manilla envelope that I had used to deliver it to K and 1st grade teachers right under her nose in her book bag (oh those were the days) and it was crammed in a box under the guest bed. I delivered it to the kind teacher willing to use up her summer break on a favor for a forgetful parent and I'll get it back in a few days.

So now I've created a Google Calendar event to remind me at the beginning of May every year until 2023 to get her teachers to sign this darn book and we're putting the thing in my husband's gun safe with our passports and birth certificates so that we're sure to find it next year. I mean, if I write about it on the blog it's bound to happen, right?