My sister-in-law, Becke’, frequently shares posts detailing some of her favorite things, so today I am going to follow her lead and share a few of my favorite things with you.

Because I know you’re dying to know about the things I love!

So without further ado:

1.) VIVO Per Lei facial products – Don’t they just sound fancy? A few months ago, I ran into the mall to pick up a couple of things, and as I walked by one of the center kiosks, a man pulled me aside. Now, normally I don’t stop when those people try to sell me things, but when someone with a romantic Italian accent says, “Excuse me? You are very beautiful. Can I show you a product that I think will further enhance your beauty?” IT’S HARD NOT TO STOP!

So I let him give me his pitch and show me his products and I tried to walk away because, as we all know, I have a ~~mild~~ major addiction to skin care products and being in close proximity to products made with Dead Sea Minerals was sending me into a dangerous downward spin of desire! Seeing that I was about to walk away empty handed, the handsome Italian, who also happens to be the owner of the company, handed me the soap and told me to try it for free.

“Tell me about yourself,” he said as he massaged lotion into my hand. I mentioned my book, and told him where it was set, and my friends do you know what happened?! That handsome Italian started speaking to me in Russian. I can’t make this stuff up. I hadn’t heard Russian in months and suddenly an Italian, raised in Germany and Israel, facial-ist to the stars, is speaking Russian to me in the middle of a mall in Tampa, Florida.

I took that as confirmation from the Lord that I was to invest in some product.

Y’all this stuff is amazing! It’s so amazing, I just wrote the word y’all! Do you hear the seriousness inside my voice?!

Thank you to my new Russian speaking Italian friend for introducing it to me. Visit the website to check out his products. They are some of the best I’ve ever tried, and I’ve tried a LOT. All the products are made with Dead Sea Minerals in Israel, which means they’re holy, right? I say right.

2.) My Macbook Air. Penny. I love her, and that is all.

3.) Wyler’s Chicken Noodle Soup starters. Random? Yes. But for a girl who doesn’t love to cook, I adore a meal that I can throw together in less than an hour and that all five people in my house will eat without complaint. Glory!

4.)We bought a Papasan chair from Pier 1 Imports a few weeks ago and it has become the most coveted seat in the house. We fight over it daily. In fact, I think it might have some magical powers, because my children all want to sit in it and read. My children who do not like to read. Magic, indeed.

5.) I bit the bullet and bought the Insanity program a couple of weeks ago. Now, confession – I do not love the workouts. They make me think, and sometimes say out loud, bad words. Plus, Shaun T keeps telling me to find my core and I want to scream at the TV, “I can’t! It disappeared when the third baby was born!”

These workouts are hard in an I-want-to-punch-someone-in-the-face sort of way. But I do love that after only a week, I already feel stronger and like I’m getting results. So this one is less love and more love-hate, but it still counts.

6.) Rain. It’s been raining for three straight days now, and while I’m getting slightly annoyed by all the falling water, I must say the sound of it hitting the window is lovely. It makes me want to curl up in the magic Papasan and read a good book.

Okay that’s all! Now I’m off to ~~clean the house~~ read a book in the Papasan. If you have any favorite things you think I should know about, please share in the comments. Particularly if it pertains to skin care products. That’s right – I just asked you to fuel my addiction.

Boom!

Happy Wednesday, y’all!

Four years ago, a runner friend of mine convinced me to join her in a marathon relay downtown. Fancying myself a runner with untapped potential, I happily agreed and then spent the next four months cursing myself for agreeing to do something so reprehensible. I finished the race, running the last leg, which was uphill. Six point three solid miles of incline.

One week later I found out I was pregnant and never ran again.

Until, somehow, I was convinced to do the race again this year. I think my friend used some kind of voodoo mind trick on me to convince me to do it. Wait…actually I believe it was MY idea to run the race this year. Clearly I was possessed or on crack or something because why would I willingly choose to do that?

I must say, the training this time around wasn’t nearly as bad. Probably mostly because I did a pretty pathetic job of it. But I didn’t hate it. I finally figured out my rhythm in running and actually found myself, dare I say, enjoying myself.

The week before the race, I ran my longest run in four years. I did four miles, on the road, by myself. Major mental victory given the fact that I much prefer running on the treadmill mostly because it helps you out. On the road you actually have to do all the work and you have to run up the hills and can’t set a negative incline to recuperate.

I felt like super woman when I finished. Take that FloJo! Until…

The next morning I could barely walk. Seems my left hamstring was in rebellion and for the next week it begged me to back out. But I wouldn’t have it. Being the stellar athlete that I am, I refused to back down. Ahem.

Race day came and the alarm went off at 4:40 in the am! Again, I cursed the gods of road races and stumbled out of bed. I was running the first leg of the marathon so tardiness was not allowed. As we lined up at the starting point, I began to feel the buzz of excitement in the air. Running isn’t so bad when you are doing it with 17,000 others who are all excited. We took off and I quickly fell into a nice pace thanks to a friend who showed up and happened to be standing next to me. He was running the half marathon just for fun.

Just for fun.

Let that simmer for a minute.

It was nice to have a partner and off we went. A funny thing happens, though, when you’re running with someone who likes to run 13 miles for fun…you get left behind. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

At about the half mile mark we went under a bridge, which was apparently labeled the pee spot as roughly ten men were lined up, peeing against the fence. “Good to be a guy,” I remarked to my friend, who simply grinned.

At about the two mile mark, we began to head up hill – steeply up hill. I wanted to keep up with Scott, I really did. But alas, I needed oxygen. “Go,” I gasped. “Save yourself.” He hesitated, wanting to help me out and encourage me, but it was clear that my lungs were dangerously close to combustion, so on he went, the back of his head bobbing and weaving all perky like.

And I walked up the hill. No shame. I walked.

This turned out to be a terrible idea because once I stopped, my protesting hamstring tied itself in four knots from my butt to the back of my knee. It was like an indignant toddler, arms crossed, foot stomping, “No I won’t GO!” But with four miles to go, I needed to keep running so I stretched the bratty hamstring out and off we went, this time with a slight hobble.

I round the three mile marker and thought I was going to hurl – have I mentioned it was close to 90 degrees that day? – when I looked over and saw a woman stop, pull down her pants, and pee on the side of the road.

W-H-A-T?!

200 yards later we passed a Port-a-Potty, but whatever, right?

At five miles, both amstrings were screaming at me. They were in full out tantrum mode but on I foraged, stopping only once more to walk up what seemed to be a mountain, but was actually probably a very slight inline.

I rounded the corner of my six mile run right at the 70 minute mark. Much slower than I anticipated, but I blame that on my stubborn hamstrings. As I handed off the belt to my friend Amy, who was way too excited, I might add, I exited the course, high fiving perfect strangers all the way.

“Great job!” they cheered. “Awesome – way to go!” I felt so loved and encouraged and I decided I wanted to run another race…maybe the half marathon?

Someone remind me – what’s the definition of insanity?

Right. That what I thought.