What Defines You? An Exercise in Self-Relection.

What defines you?  What makes you YOU?  On any other day I would strongly dislike this question. I would hate having to answer it because it is a question that requires some serious work.  Mental work.  Lots of reflection...the deep kind.  And I hate putting things in a box...my thinking, dreams, ideas, beliefs...the big idea of me.  So hard to answer a question like this when our "self definition" is something that I believe we are always tweeking or adding to as our life unfolds.  


As I stand here in my kitchen in a house full of kids running around with their friends, grabbing on to the last days of summer, and creating worlds from their imagination, I realize just how much my life has changed since the last time I thought about this "self definition" question.  And it makes me know even more than ever that there are so many parts of our life, our spirit, our goals, personality, reactions, family, etc. that make us who we are.  So many things fill our reality but it is up to us to choose what we do with these things...how we will react to them, use them, and grow from them.  We define ourselves and we have the power to change our "self definitions" over time.  We hold the power to make our life a life that reflects the way we want to be defined. 

What defines me? If I were to try to "define" myself?  Here are some very rough, very raw, off the cuff, "think out louds" on this...the bones of building this "self definition"..not because I think we should try to define ourselves necessarily, or because I feel the need to define myself, but just because I think it is an interesting exercise of self reflection. This exercise in self-definition requires taking a close look at ourselves.  

• I'm hard on myself for the mistakes I make in life...as a parent, a wife, a friend...this defines me as a person that strives to be the very best that I can be.  This defines me as a person that doesn't settle for just "getting by in life" but sets the bar high.  
• I have never truly been able to push myself to pain when I run...by choice.  I've never been able to race to the point where I let it all go and see what I'm truly capable of.  This defines me as a person that might be scared of failure.
• I can be overly sensitive to how I come across to my friends and family.  I worry about whether I offended them with something I said, rubbed them the wrong way, was too much energy, etc.  This defines me as a person that cares what others think but not out of trying to be what they want me to be.  More out of being sensitive to how I come across to other and how I make others feel when they are around me.  
• I find myself reacting easily as a parent and not tolerating their poor choices as much as I maybe should.  I find myself being very hard on them and sometimes expecting them to meet standards that just might not always be easy to meet. This defines me as a parent that wants great things for her children.  A parent that believes that there is always something to work towards.  At the same time, it can define me as someone that needs to work on patience and grace.  
• My relationship with my husband defines me as someone who loves deeply and passionately.  As a person that values strong relationships.
• Coming back from injury stronger than before defines me as a person that doesn't surrender.  It defines me as a person that is goal driven and determined.
• Becoming a mother, teaching, running and using my love for writing defines me as a person that holds her passions as important and worthy of honoring and pursuing.  
• There are still things in my life that people close to me have done or said to me that hurt me deeply if I think about them.  This might define me as a person who values loyalty and putting relationships as a high priority in life.  It also might define me as a person that needs resolution and verbal/written communication to move on with things.  
• Just the fact that I would even write a post like this defines me as a person who values self-reflection.  I see self-reflection as a most important part of my life in helping me grow and continue to make my life the way I want it to be.  It is a stepping-stone to DEFINING myself the way I want my Self-Definition to be.  

I could go on and on with this exercise....I could fill pages and page full of the parts of my core that work towards my self-definion.  For now, I'm done but I plan to return to this exercise some more over the next month or so as I reflect on how I want to be defined.  

So, what about you?  Will you join me in this reflective exercise of self-definement?  What is one aspect of you, your life, your core, that "Defines" you?  What is a "self defining" statement for you?  

Try this:

I _____________________________________. This might define me as ____________________.

Amanda

Epic Relay and Memories of a Lifetime!

I admit it.  I was a little sick of hearing about Hood To Coast before this weekend.  Even though I was signed up and on a team, I just wasn't feeling the same excitement and HTC mojo that some were feeling.  My luke warm attitude about the whole thing probably had to do with a lot of things:

• I had never met any of the people we'd be on a team with
• Had total blog burn out and was feeling uninspired about many things in life.
• Was having a hard time getting excited about the weekend until I got through the week with my kids, packed everything up and had everything arranged for where the kids would be when we were gone.  Sometimes it is tricky relaxing and really enjoying something until everything is checked off and we are actually in the moment.  

Now that it is over and we are enjoying a quiet Sunday afternoon, I find myself having similar feelings to that of my thirteen year old "just got back from church camp" self.  My husband and I have both been saying that we feel a little sad to be done and say goodbye to our new friends.  After sharing a powerful and energizing experience in such close quarters with a group of people over so many hours, you kind of find yourself "bonded" at the end of it all.  Or that's how we feel with this group.  

For those that you don't know about Hood To Coast, here is a brief explanation:

• 1 team = 2 vans.  12 people.  Six people in each van. 3 legs each.
• 2 days. 24 plus hours.
• 200 miles from Mt. Hood to Seaside, Oregon (Oregon coast).
• Over the course of the race we are running, cheering each other on, keeping in contact with the other van, finding short periods of time to sleep in between legs and pass off to the other vans, sharing a common love: Running, learning about each other's life, laughing, meeting new people, drinking beer (if you so choose :)  We did.), and being part of an epic experience! 

This was my third time to do Hood To Coast and my favorite so far!  My husband and I got to be in a van together and this was part of what made it so fun for us.  We made some great memories that I will never forget.  So fun to be able to be US together and take off our parent hats for a weekend.  Reminded me all over again about how much I love him!  We were also lucky enough to get on a great team of people and have an amazing family that took all three of our kids for two nights!

Some of my favorite parts of this year's HTC:

• Meeting new friends
• Meeting up with so many awesome ladies from the Nuun teams!
• Running some really strong miles and having FUN doing it!!
• Having my husband/best friend on my team and in my van
• Sleeping in the shade of a tree, under a blue sky with a light breeze with Waylon while we waited for our third leg.  And so many other runners doing the same thing...so peaceful!  
• Seeing so many people from all over come together for this goal and for the love of running
• Many fun people to look at...costumes, van decorations, etc.  
• Drinking beer on the beach 
• Knowing so many other runners from all over...I truly feel like I am part of an Oregon running community
• Cheering on our teammates
• Having a van full of people that are so positive and easy going.  And smart! 

Oh, and the running part of it:

• I was leg 10.  
• My total mileage over the course of the three legs was 15ish miles.
• My original goal was to just have fun and run whatever I felt like.  Then I changed it to making it a good tempo workout. 
• Leg 1 was just over 5 miles with a 7:10 avg mile pace
• Leg 2 was almost 7 miles @ 7:07 avg.
• Leg 3: 3.51 miles @ 7:05 avg.
• Passing people was fun!  In the HTC lingo we call it "roadkill".  It is all in fun and I'm pretty sure that most people don't take offense to being called roadkill.  Even if you say it to say it to them on the course (which I never did)...it is part of the spirit and friendly competition.  I didn't count them out loud and I almost always said good job when I passed.  Once I yelled at Waylon and said "yeah, roadkill!" as he was passing someone.  I think my teammate thought this was mean but I meant it all in fun.  I hope the guy took it that way.  I would have.  
• My second leg had about two miles of pretty big hills but then the rest at a good downhill.  This meant running the last miles at sub 7.  And getting 17 roadkill in one leg left me feeling like I'd played an awesome video game.  My husband didn't like this (playfully) since it beat his roadkill average.  Poor baby.  
• The roadkill count and having my Garmin to see my pace really helped make each leg so much fun!
• My husband passed off to me and we were sharing a Garmin so this was tricky.  

Van 2 ready to go!

Meeting up with some girls from the Nuun team!  Harmony, Me, Susan?, Marjorie, Tonia 

Waylon getting his Nuun Tattoo from TMB from Racing With Babes!

My awesome teammate, Heather!  Love this girl!

Sporting our Nuun Love!

More Nuun girls!  Loving meeting up with so many bloggers!

Jess is just as awesome in person as on her blog!

Lots of people in costume!

Waylon after leg one and a shower downtown..love his orange  Zensah socks.

I bet this guy had lots of chaffing

Love this man!

Fueling for leg 3

Relaxing before leg 3

So much blogger love!

These girls were so fun!

TMB was loving this guy's orange socks!

Complete strangers. So nice to let me get a photo.  

Have you ever been on a relay like this before?  Do you want to?

Amanda

What's Up Runninghood?

Looking back a few months, I can hardly believe that I was inspired to blog so much.  Sometimes I had like 2 or 10 blogs in me a day and it took everything in me to just wait a day to post another one.  And my posts never took long either.  Everything just flowed...unblocked, inspired, goal driven...alive!  Not the story with me lately.  I've been on major BLOG BURNOUT.  Or maybe it has to do with the end of summer as a busy mom of three young kids that has zapped all the creative writing mojo out of me.  Good thing I'm not a paid blogger or even someone that writes that big of a blog.  Whatever it is, I've kind of enjoyed the break but thought that perhaps I should post a quick update of random bullets.  

• I'm sure nobody in blog land knows much about the Hood To Coast Relay this weekend.  No?  That's funny because I can't log on to facebook, my blog roll, or twitter without seeing one or all of the following words:  Nuun, Team, Hood, Coast, Relay, Nuun.  Ha!  Good luck to you ladies.  I can tell you are very excited!  As you should be!  I hope I get to see you at the beach and at least have a beer with you and see your lovely faces!  I will be running on a team with my husband and some people we have never met before.  No Team Nuun but perhaps I'll take some Nuun along to keep me feeling perky!  Can you mix Nuun with Beer?  Yes Beer...my husband put Beer on the list for what to pack for the vans.  Apparently Beer was/is part of the overall HTC experience.  We are not a team running for time/competition.  I'm shooting for a base pace of 7:45/8:00 and if I'm feeling frisky I might try to do some 7:20's for a marathon pace "feel".  I'm leg 10 but I didn't look at my leg or confirm that for sure until last night.  We leave tomorrow.  I'll be plenty prepared.  I meet my team members tonight and then  GO time!  My goals: 1.  Have fun! 2.  Don't talk and laugh the entire time (I've heard this can be rather annoying when you're in a situation like this...Ha! Go figure). 3.  Enjoy getting to know new people 4.  Soak up the time/experience I have with my husband...great memories!  Oh, and pretty cool shirt this year compared to the last couple times I did it.  

Good Luck to all of you that are doing it!  Nuun Team or Not!  :)  Would you have a beer between legs?  I will!  

• Colorado was great!  I miss it.  

Lucky me!  I got to meet Jill!  Thanks for lunch Jill!  After lunch we did a little walk through of REI.  So fun and Jill is such a sweet, funny, and genuine person!  So great to see you Jill.  

Red Rocks Concert!  So Awesome!  

• Runninghood Sticker.  Never something I was seriously going to do but since my mom was playing around with her Sticklete runner art, I thought it would be fun to try out a sticker.  Clearly for fun.  Megan, from Build-a-Sign had offered to send me some to try it out so I finally took her up on the offer and made a sticker.  Megan was so helpful and made the process quick and easy.  Thanks Megan!  I love my little sticker and I'll be sending people your way in the future!  I have 30 of you that said you wanted one for your treadmill, journal, and various places around your house.  My lack of blog mojo has affected everything blog related so I have not sent those out yet.  I'm still waiting on a few addresses for people that said they wanted one.  

• Reading.  I'm finding myself in need of a deep read.  Something to make me think, touch me to the core, and awe me with the beauty of how it is written.  I'm hoping that this next book I'm reading will do the trick.  So far so good.  

My allotted blog time is up!  I'm really making a point to be more alive with my kiddos when they are awake and the first one has just now started stirring...I know, I'm so lucky today...it is past 8 and they are still sleeping!  Lots of my mind lately!  LOTS!  Motherhood reflections, spirituality, life goals, family, reevaluating where I'm at with many things, future plans with my career...booking tickets to the Dave Matthews Concert in George, Washington (will be epic!)...lots of thinking and adjusting to some new shifts my life is taking.  

Hope to catch up in Blog land some day.  For now, I'm giving myself the okay to take a break.  We all need that sometimes.  Permission to just "lay low", "fall behind", and "view from a distance".  Hope that you understand.  I promise I'll respond, comment, and be more active again soon!  Thanks for sticking around.

Amanda

Unfolding Perfectly

A morning of solitude!  Quite possibly the cutest little house I've ever seen!  Thank you Stacy!!

Everything I needed from this solo trip to Colorado is unfolding perfectly.
Quiet time, 
         mending broken relationships,
A perfect blend of solitude and connecting with friends and family.  


Time to be by myself,
alone,
Nobody to take care of except ME!
Time to REFLECT,
       catch up with old friends and family, 
and heal some wounds.  


Oh, and LAUGH!  
Lots of laughing. 


A retreat flawlessly planned for me. 
Amazing to see life happening just as it is meant to be.  
A seemingly random and spontaneous trip 
        is simply part of 
                  a Divine Symphony.  
And not so random at all, really.  

Waking up late to a note from my friend and the best coffee EVER!

Don't remember the last time I did this!  Heaven.  I'm a little fried today though.  Thanks Sherika.  Love you!

Now off to meet a new friend!  Jill, can't wait to see you!  


Amanda

Branca Barefoot Running Sandals

Barefoot running.
Most of us have heard of it.
Some scoff at it.
Some swear by it.
It has been labeled "trendy", "dangerous", or "basic and wise".

For me, I have no interest in becoming a barefoot runner.  I'm doing fine with shoes thank you very much.  However, I do know several friends that have suffered from injury after injury during their running journey. People that love running so deeply but just can't seem to find a way to do it continually without being knocked down by foot, knee, and various leg injuries that cause them pain and problems!  Many of these people have chucked the fancy shoes and turned to the simplicity of barefoot running or a minimalistic running approach.   Some use a very minimalistic shoe.  Others have tried the trendy Vibrams.  And there are those that use barefoot running sandals or nothing at all.

Barefoot running, like anything in life, isn't for everyone.  It is what it is and it works for many people.  Not so much for others.  Although I am not a barefoot runner and I don't think I ever really will be, I do think that making time for barefoot running can be beneficial in several ways.  I think that by adding barefoot running or barefoot sandal running to my running routine several times a week (starting gradually) can:

• Improve my form
• Strengthen my feet
• Work my muscles in new ways and make me a stronger runner

I've been seeing a lot of the Vibram shoes around lately.  I've just always thought of them as the funny toe shoes.  And then my husband got a pair and I started noticing them more and more.  But I had never seen anyone wearing barefoot sandals until one afternoon at the Children's Museum.  A man was wearing these really awesome looking Branca sandals.  They looked comfortable and well made.  Apparently, he is also a fan of Luna sandals but he liked his Brancas better and so he was sure to have a pair made especially for him when he was in the Portland area.  He even let me take a picture.  

I asked him several questions about his sandals and I mentioned that I write a running blog.  Soon after my meeting, Brant, from Branca Barefoot  contacted me and asked me if I'd like to try out a pair of leather barefoot sandals.  I said that I'd be interested in trying them out in hopes of gradually adding barefoot drills to my running routine.   

So far, these sandals feel very comfortable when I'm running and when I'm just wearing them around.  They are well made and tailored to fit just right!  Brant, from Branca, also mentioned that they recently upgraded to Vibram Newflex soles.  And they have developed a method to curve the soles so they don't flap and bend under the toes.  However,  I have not noticed mine doing this even before the improvement.  

Here is some information taken direction from the Branca website.  You can read much more and even watch several videos by visiting the Branca website! yourself!  

Welcome to the Branca! We provide custom-made, colorful, comfortable minimalist running sandals for anyone looking to improve their running form and prevent injury.

Soling

• Vibram Newflex
• Low Density
• Highly Resistant to Abrasion
• Extremely Light
• Rigid Tread Patter for Maximum Traction
• Note: The Original Brancas use 1/8" thick styrene/butadiene rubber mix sole. Not Vibram.

Upper

• Stoned Oil-tanned Leather, and Perforated Leather
• Original Brancas: Vinyl coated cloth, 15 colors available

Heel Straps

• Black Elastic Rubber

•  
  • UV and ozone resistant
  • 1" width provided maximum comfort!
  • "runbranca.com" imprinted
• Leather
  • 1-2mm thick
  • 1" width provided maximum comfort!
  • Black and Brown options available

Laces

• 3/8" wide (Note: Black, Navy Blue, and Red are significantly wider)
• 45" long
• Nylon/Polyester Blend
• 22 colors (maroon now available!)
• Easy tying design

Eyelets

• Color: black oxide
• Heavy Duty Steel

Weight

• Perforated Leather: Less than 5 ounces
• Originals and Brown Leather: Just over 6 ounces

Design

• Flat sole. No knot under toes. 
• "Winged" soles allows eyelets to be lifted off ground so laces don't make contact with ground and don't wear out.
• Mens size  13 is largest size we can make.
• 5" wide toe region
• Simply tying design allows for convention knot tying. No complex knots imvolved.

Price

• Originals: $40, Free Shipping
• Stoned Oil-Tanned: $74, Includes a Free Pair of Original Brancas (Yes, you get two pairs of running sandals!), Free Shipping
• Perforated Leather: $97, Included a Free Pair of Original Brancas (Yes, you get two pairs of running sandals!), Free Shipping

Shipping

• Free domestic shipping
• International: $13
• Priority Mail

Amanda

Imaginary Play, Running With Kids, Normal Sex Drive, and Passed Out Two Year Olds

Motherhood/Imaginary Play
It's been a rough week for me as a mother. A week of fighting, whining, screaming, a chorus of "I'm bored, we want candy, can we call our friends?....", and just an overall feeling of needing some structure! I feel like I've had no focus.  Just when I get on track to do something or clean something up, there is a fight to break up.  Just when someone calls me on the phone, I'm needed IMMEDIATELY by all of my children at once and the person on the other end must think I have no control over my life. 


But right now, everything is perfect. IN fact, it is wonderful. Instead of bored kids, begging, whining, and looking for trouble, I'm hearing the sound of imaginary play!  Our neighbor boy is over and the living room is turned into a glorious kingdom of couch cushion forts, rivers of cars and blocks, and a fancy princess bed with a sick princess being covered in medicine (a.k.a baby wipes).  They are all lost in a magical world of imaginary play...an art that I don't seem enough of these days.  The art of creating your own fun, turning a box into ship or a secret cave, hanging blankets across chairs to make a castle, learning through "pretend play", eating invisible feasts, and imagining that you are someone completely different and living in an entirely new land!  Gosh, I miss this.  I think  imaginary play is one of the most important parts of childhood and such a big part of learning.  Kids shouldn't need every toy in the world, a t.v on all day, or all the latest video games to entertain them.  I've tried my hardest to make sure my kids learn to appreciate what they have and make their own fun without having to have a bunch of "stuff" and get sucked into television but these past few weeks of summer it has been really hard.  It seems like they fight with each other for most of the day and it has been rare that they play together for too long before asking for something or wanting a friend to come over.  I'm so happy to hear them all getting along!


Running
I'm still keeping running on the lighter side without putting too much focus on a specific plan.  I do have a half marathon in October but I think it will be for fun.  It is the Girlfriend's Half and I imagine it will be a fun race to go to with my girlfriend and meet up with a few blog friends. Hood to Coast is also coming up but that is for fun too. Although I'm not training too terribly hard, I do find that I need to run in order to afford my eating habits/large appetite and keep my spirits up.  I feel better when I'm exercising hard.  


On Sunday, my husband and I got away for a beautiful run.  He ran 22 at 7:40 average pace with his last 8 at around a 7 or under pace.  Really impressed with him.  I ran 10 and then biked 14 and took some pictures of him for fun.  

Mile 18.  He was at a really great pace!

This morning I had a plan to do 8 repeat 400's so I attempted it with my kids.  All three of them.  It actually worked out okay for the most part.  After every repeat, I could jog over to them and put out any fires before my 2-3 minutes of active recovery were up and I had to hit another one.  It was a lot of yelling at my six year old to come keep an eye on her brother (I try not to put her in charge very often..I do want her to want kids of her own someday), stopping for a minute to show my two year old how fun playing with his cars could be, and jogging around the play structure for my recovery.  I only made 7 of them (not because I was tired but because my kids needed me):  90, 88,88,88, 88, 92, 88.  I was trying to keep them right around 3k pace and focus on form...getting my knees up, leaning forward, increasing my cadence/turnover, and not over striding.  I also fit in a Jillian workout early this morning.  Yippie!  


Oh, and last night I went on a pretty solid base run of 7 miles at a sub 8 average.  My oldest daughter rode her bike the entire way.  Hills and all!  I was so impressed with her.  There was only one scary moment (or funny) when she went too fast down a hill and flipped her bike into a blackberry bush.  She was okay though.  No tears.  Just a little bum sticking up out of the dry brush.  At first I thought she was a doll and then I realized it was her.  Wave of emotions: confused, scared, laughing, scared, relieved, cracking up.  


Random

This is my husband stealing my compression tights (he wore them the right way), and compression socks after his 22 mile run.  Poor guy needs to get his own but didn't have anything.  He looked just a little silly.  

• I finished answering my questions in my last post for those of you that asked and are interested. Some of those were kind of hard to answer.
• Even though my husband has been SO busy lately with work, school and other business stuff, we have made time for a few dates!  This is so important for us.  Having time together really helps us stay strong in our marriage and be better parents.  

• I have mentioned sex a few times lately.  It appears that I'm coming across as if I have sex all the time and that I have an issue.  Ha!  For the record, I don't think I have sex any more than the average "in love" couple.  I think I just joked about it one too many times and people are beginning to think we are like one of those couples that gets it on multiple times every day.  Nope.  We have three kids.  We are tired.  Sleep is good.  
• Sleep is especially good after chasing my energetic two year old around all day.  This is what happens when he doesn't get a nap...he eventually runs himself ragged and passes out somewhere.  With a bowl on his head.  Not sure where the bowl came from or what he was doing with it but this is how we found him:

• Writer's Block.  Big time.  I keep feeling like I have something I want to get out...something big...but whenever I find a second to think about it and get it out, it is gone and the "mommy, mommy, mommy" chorus begins.  Gosh, this sucks for a someone that processes through writing!  Like right now.  

Imaginary play is up.  My time is up.  Oh well, it lasted at least an hour. 

1.  Mothers, are you finding that the end of summer at home with kids is rough?  Are you ready for a schedule, structure, and school to start or do you keep yourself plenty busy in the summer?  

2.  When you were a kid, did you use your imagination for hours on end?  We would pretend for hours!!  Granted, my brothers and I also fought something AWFUL!  I played better with my friends but I certainly wasn't allowed to watch t.v all day and I am grateful for that!

2.  Running.  Are you training for something right now or just enjoying running for fun?  

Amanda

The Rest of My Answers!

Oh boy!  I'm finally done answering all of these questions that these people may or may not even see!  I actually enjoyed the reflection involved in answering some of these.  




Funderson
Have you ever colored your hair a weird color? Pierced anything? When are you coming back to CO so we can drink coffee?
Yes, right before my senior pictures in high school I thought it would be fun to home highlight my hair.  Big mistake.  Hair turned orange.  Yuck.  So then I tried coloring over it.  Gosh.  As far as weird hair colors on purpose...nah.  I went red with blonde highlights not too long ago but only lasted so long.  I'm kind of a natural girl.  


My nose is pierced.  I pierced my bellybutton by myself in high school.  Ice cube and safety pin.  My mom freaked out, made me take it out, and then pierced her own belly button not too long after that (she did it professionally).  Stupid.  Ha!  :)  Never pierced it again.  


I'm going to be in Colorado next week for a short trip.  Where exactly are you?  Oh how I would love to get up to see you!!!  Jill and I might go up to the foot hills for a hike...come join us!  


Aimee
Here's my question: If you couldn't run, what would you do for exercise?
I'm a naturally hyper person.  So much to do for exercise.  I'd find a way.  But not being able to run might put me out of other things too.  That would stink.  Running is such a quick form of exercise...total body.  So much harder to get the same workout in other ways.  I suppose I'd cycle, have lots of sex, jump on the trampoline, do tons of push ups and sit ups and drive my family crazy (except my husband..he'd be getting a lot of sex so he'd be happy).


Chris K
1) Why does XLMIC have this amazing skill to ask such great questions? 
She's witty!  And she is REAL so she doesn't spend too much time thinking of the right way to answer...she just says it like it is and does it with humor and intelligence.  
2) When you get into the car, who controls the music? Um, ME!  I can't stand his music for very long before I want to rip his hair out!  Oh wait, his hair is already gone.  Seriously, some of that "manly" music makes me want to beat the crap out of something.  But lucky for me, we both love a lot of the same music...Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, etc. And let's be totally honest, we are not in the car by ourselves very often...we have three kids!  So, we might just be listening to kids fighting, laughing or talking and you neither one of us controls that very well when we are in the car.  Ha!

3) Fav TV shows with hubby, and without? When Survivor is on, we love watching that together!  Oh, and Modern Family!  Great show! We also like the show Weeds...it is a series we both think is funny.  Neither one of us watches much t.v.  It isn't on very often in our house.  However, we go through phases.  He used to love 24. And I admit, I do enjoy The Bachelor sometimes.  Good mindless show.  Kind of like reading the occasional gossip magazine.  

4) Where do you see yourself living in 20 year when the kids are all out of the nest?
Hmmm, somewhere near my children.  I want to be there when they have kids.  Not in the burbs.  Either in the city or the country/mountains.
5) What are your 3 top Bucket List items?
This one is hard!  Bucket list questions are difficult for me because I have many many things I want to do before I kick the bucket!  Many! I've never made a bucket list. This will be more than three in no particular order. Travel the world, Change the world, Adopt a child perhaps (never really said this one out loud), get my doctorate, write a book, Climb a mountain, learn a new language, Live in another country for a year (Italy?).  I'll be thinking on this.  


Allison
Which one of your children is... how do I say it nicely... the most "spirited?" Does she/he give you a run for your money daily? Hourly?

All of them at different times.  The good thing is that they usually are not all three "spirited" at the same time. Thank GOODNESS!  Today was rough!!

Lindsay
what weird food-related habit do you have?
Not so sure I have one.  


what do you think your kids will grow up to be (job wise)?
My oldest daughter:  The President perhaps. Teacher, Engineer, Doctor, Lawyer...Leadership Position.  
MIddle Daughter:  Hmmm, a nurse, teacher, scientist, Doctor...anything she wants!
Son:  Have no clue...he's only two.  A comedian, Vet, 


what did you want to be when you grew up?
Mom, Teacher, Astronomer


flowers or chocolates?
I LOVE FRESH Flowers!!


have your daughters started the practice of skin stretching?  Nope!  :)  Thank Goodness.  

Laurie:
I want to know if you had to leave this great and wonderful state that we live in and move somewhere else, where would you go?
So many possibilities.  California, Washington, Alaska, Thailand, Colorado, Montana...
What do you consider your guilty pleasure?
Chocolate, Beer, and a People Magazine (rare but enjoyable)




Marjorie:
Do you know why you are as hard on yourself as you are?
I think this has a lot to do with my dad dying when I was young and seeing my mom struggle.  I have always been hard on myself...feeling like I need to take care of myself and stay one step ahead of things.  I'm extremely reflective about how I'm living my life.  This is a big question and one I would have to spend a long time on to really answer...I'll be thinking about it.


Are you still in touch with any of your best friends from when you were in elementary school?
Yes.  A couple of them. 


What would your reaction be if your 2-year old head-butted you in the nose so hard you saw stars and felt nauseous?
I'd probably scream and cry and be really dramatic.  Then he'd probably come over and hug me and say "sorry Mama".


When you get sick, it is easy for you to throw up... or do you resist?




I welcome throwing up when I'm sick.  I always feel so much better!


Mallory:
If you had two days, $1000 and your hubby, what would you two do? You HAVE to spend the entire amount.
Well, since $1000 doesn't go very far when buying plane tickets we'd probably stay local.  I'd say that we would drive somewhere not too far away, get a very nice hotel...couples massage, drinks, dinner, dancing, fabulous breakfast, maybe a concert.  Maybe somewhere in the mountains with a view and a great town to walk through.  


Miss Zippy
Do you have a guilty pleasure TV show? (Bravo addict wants to know!)
Well, I'm watching the Bachelor Pad right now while typing.  Does that work?  ha!


What about you?  Guilty Pleasure?  Favorite T.V Show?  A top BUCKET LIST ITEM?  
Amanda