Art Party

For the most part I'm going to let the photos do the talking for Bella's art party. It was a success, albeit a messy one. We did a craft, played a rudimentary Pictionary-style drawing guessing game, decorated cupcakes, painted murals on the deck, and then played in the yard until parents came. I also read them Dr. Suess's 'My Many Colored Days' and gave them a color journal and a pack of crayons to take home. (Which I failed to photograph but will try to later-)
All photos courtesy of mom and Sophie.

Mom and Dad came for a visit for Bella's birthday, but I failed to take any pictures. What the? These are from when they were here earlier in the month. Can I say how much I love that they live within driving distance and that they are willing to visit often? I saw them in Denver in April, then they came a couple weeks after that, then they came back a few weeks after that. Dad is Fiona's favorite person, period. This is her response when he went outside to pack the car last time, and left her to be comforted by Mom. I kind of feel this way too, this time. After their visit, and Bella's party, and having the Giler's over for dessert, Timm is back at work, and this house feels a little too empty.

Mom and Fi area little squinty, but it's the best I have.
Maybe they'll come back next month.

Verdict

The verdict is in: I am not doomed to an eternity of humiliation and blistered heels. Not today, anyway.
I was able to get in 2 runs this week before the race. Not great, but something. The first one was killer and the second was pretty good. I was still feeling nervous about it, but ready to face the music. The result? I beat my last time! By...

3 seconds. Seriously.

Awww yeah- Rockstar!

However, in my defense, this course was very hilly and harder than my previous two- Plus, i have been so lazy the last couple of months that I'm almost amazed I beat my time at all. However, I am still anxious to register for one next month and spend the next few weeks training to shave a couple/few minutes of my time. If I'm going to keep doing this, and I plan to, I need to find a sponsor! We just don't have it in the budget to pay race registration fees, let alone every month! The price of fitness.

I'm proud of myself for doing it even though I was afraid of the results this time. I'm proud that I ran the first mile without stopping to take a walk break. I'm proud that I completed a third race, that I have stuck with it and was ready to face the consequences of my laziness. I'm proud that it inspired me to keep working. However. It is hard not to diminish my efforts and achievements. I finished 95/100 in my division. I was in the 5th percentile. Awesome. Now, if there was a division for 28-year old women who have had three children by C-section in the last four years, one in the last year, who have only been running inconsistently for a few months, has lost 35 pounds and has Morton's neuroma, then maybe I could place. Anyone know of that race?
It kind of makes me feel like a loser that I am proud of my meager achievement, that my best is so far from anyone else's worst...I know I am generalizing- I wasn't the very last, after all, but still.
I imagine that everyone else there has always been running, that it has been easy for them, that they've always enjoyed it and been good at it. That none of them were ever in my shoes. Literally and figuratively.
I have plans and goals for the future but I get frustrated thinking that maybe I don't have the same athletic potential as others. That my goals may be unrealistic and laughable. Will I make the progress that I hope for? Do I just have to patient with my somewhat slow progression? I still feel like a fraud among other runners.
One more under my belt.

Donut Night

Mom and Dad came to visit this weekend because we blessed Fiona on Sunday (details to come), and afterwards we had a Petersen-style homemade Donut Night! Until I get the blessing pictures from my dad, I will blog about donuts.
Bella enjoyed an array of treats, including eating straight from a quart of Rita's Water Ice, courtesy of Sophie who works there now. (Sweet!) That's quite indulgent of the Gilers to let Bella spoil the rest of the quart by eating directly from it.
Not a great picture, but I am always amazed at Linda's kid's interest in Fiona, and Bella for that matter. As a kid I was never interested in babies or kids. At all. Even now, I don't seek them out or coo over every baby I see. I need to have some kind of emotional attachment to them, usually through friends or relatives. So because of this I can't fathom that all of Linda's kids, Sophie, Hayden and Blake, clamor to hold Fiona and fight for their turn with her. It's works out well for me.
Here is Blake, Linda's youngest, showing off a plate of glazed donuts. Mmm...
Linda, glazing.
Mmm...
Donuts.
Tasty.
It was so fun- it felt like a holiday. The festivity of making homemade donuts, having my parents there, my family all together, good friends and company, the World Series playing and happy squeals from Bella...
Good Times.

This one has a cliff-hanger ending...

(I ran out of disk space at this inopportune time!)


She says 'Barack Obama', but upon my inquiry I confirmed my hunch that he just had a cooler name.
Sorry dad.
At least she's not registered.