Loaded Post: Life Realizations, Random Facial Hair, and Intentions on a Gift of a Friday

It's a boots, long socks, dress, sunshine, crisp fall kind of day! Love my Keen Bern Baby Bern Boots!

Hello Beautiful Day! I'm not sure a day could get much prettier. On all levels.  A Friday with blue skies, a fall crispness, positive energy, warm sunshine, flowing inspiration, seemingly endless patience and strong running legs.  A day of "I've Got This!" and "Wow, so many possibilities!"  I like this feeling.

It was one of the first days in a long time where I've had to grab a pen and notebook to keep up with and capture all my flowing thoughts.  Good thoughts.  Ideas.  Inspiration.  Small steps to take to get to where I'm going.  But first thing was first... I needed to get a to-do list going for my morning before I could act on any of the other things:

1. Tweeze the heck out of my eye brows.
2. Wax my upper lip.
3. Pluck random 2 or 3 chin and face hairs.  

Okay, so this wasn't on my to-do list but it should have been.  I mean, good grief!  Nobody told me that once I start getting closer to my mid 30's, I'd honestly be able use the phrase "Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin." No, I'm not talking beard by any means but I really hope that these random hairs that I keep finding are as bad as it gets.  Someone tell me I'm not turning into a man. Ha! And if you're a true blonde, yeah yeah, you just don't understand.  And if you're my husband, you're embarrassed that I just wrote any of this because he is convinced that most women don't have to tweeze, pluck or wax...it's clearly just me.  What? Seriously honey? You really think I'm the only woman that buys the random box of lip wax/bleach?  Or has tweezers as her favorite beauty tool?  Nope.

Some real goals today:

1. Kick some ass today. Period. 
2. Be intentional about patience and self control when responding to kids.  
3. Be intentional about the positive messages I'm sending to my kids (especially my son who is dealing with some strong emotions lately).  I specifically want to model for him:  Self love and compassion, facing fears, and dealing with anger in ways that are helpful not harmful.  
4. Order some more parenting books and do a more research/reading on teaching kids emotional intelligence.  
5. Run.  
6. Continue to get involved with volunteer opportunities.  
7. Do the Jewel Fairy Dance for my kids. The Halloween Jewel Fairy is supposed to deliver some Halloween jewels today.

It wasn't hard to make today great.  I woke up happy and in love with where I'm at and the people in my life.  I had every intention of making great things happen today and I was excited to make it happen.  And gosh, when I'm feeling this way and making efforts to change things for the better, my entire family follows.  We all benefit.

Some things I realized today as I stepped back and looked at my life with such contentment and joy: 

• Sometimes things get harder before they get easier.
• The little things really do add up to big things!  Start with something small today.  It makes the big picture look a little less scary.  
• Thanks for this quote Women's Running Magazine:  "Challenges are what makes life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful." --Joshua J. Marine
• Letting go of fear and embracing vulnerability is a real freaking big deal, it truly means something to me, and it isn't easy these days but gosh, life is better this way.
• When one door closes, another almost always OPENS.  Or many.  
• The things that matter most to us are sometimes the things we tend to take for granted and work the least on.
• Some pains, heartaches, and deep rooted longings will always be a part of us and that's okay.  They makes us who we are.  Acknowledging and accepting them, practicing lots of self love, and looking forward to the possibilities are key here.  
• We all have a story to tell that will make a difference to someone else.  Tell your story. 
• We don't have to do it all at once. Start small.  I know I said it again but this one is huge for me right now.  What's the worst that can happen?  We apply for something, reach out to someone, send an e-mail, make a connection, sign up for a new opportunity...these things almost always lead to something new...they get things in motion and start making our dreams a reality.  Thankful for a good friend who reminded me of this recently (thanks AM). 
• Sometimes it takes letting go of something we love because we love something else more. Life is full of decisions.  What matters most? 
• We never really lose ourselves.  Sometimes it feels like it.  But really, we are finding new parts of us that we didn't know we had.  
• I'm so glad to be who I am right now and wouldn't go back to who I was one, two, three or any years ago...not for all the money in the world.  This is a good place to be.  I know that life will only continue to bring layers of wisdom, love, lessons.... Bring it! Change is good even if the process of stretching is painful at times.  
• I am so incredibly thankful for the love of my life and best friend who is willing to continually grow and learn with me.  And love me unconditionally.  He's my rocking chair partner when I'm in my 100's sitting by a fire and thinking about the many happy years we've had together. Couldn't have chosen a better partner to share love and life with.  And raise these beautiful kids of ours! 
• I love living in Asheville.  More than any other place I've ever lived before (Oregon, Colorado, Iowa).  But family is important and unfortunately they live on the west coast.  Leaving in July to go back to Portland will be bittersweet.  For now, I intend on soaking up every last bit of this place I am so in love with.  
•  Woooo Weee Parenting is never a dull moment!
• We get back what we put into things.  Especially when it comes to LOVE.
• I may keep my circle of closest friends small but Wow, I have some pretty special people in my life.  Some friends that don't come around too often.  I feel blessed beyond measure here.  Two of my closest friends are actually women I originally met through the running blog world several years ago.  Our friendship eventually turned to e-mail and now I enjoy visiting them as often as I can. They've come to be beyond special.  This is just another message to me in the value of putting ourselves out there.  And the truth in things unfolding as they are meant to unfold.  
• Raising kids is the most challenging, beautiful, rewarding, and joyful experience of my life.  
• Running.  What a gift!  It's been a constant in my life for over 20 years now.  That's pretty incredible if I really think about it.  It's provided joy, drive, focus, therapy, calm, spiritual connection and clarity, moments of reflection and processing.... oh SO MUCH.  Forever THANKFUL for the gift of RUNNING!  
• We are LOVED. To love and be loved...isn't this the greatest gift we have?    

What a perfectly wonderful message from the universe for this little boy on this beautiful morning: "You are LOVED!" I love that my 4 year old noticed this "heart" on the walk into preschool, a sign clearly meant for him! What a gift of a day! #love

More on this later, but I'm excited to have been chosen to be an Ambassador for the Asheville Marathon at Biltmore Estates (I've written about this most beautiful and historical place before). Last year was the first year for this destination marathon and it sold out three weeks early.  I have no doubts it will sell out fast again and I hope that some of you will think about adding it for a spring marathon.  I'd love to get a group together to meet up that weekend! I plan on using it as a training run for Boston.  Your can read about it and register by clicking the button on the top right hand corner of my blog. Let me know if you're thinking of it and I can answer questions.   

Amanda 

You can also find Runninghood on:

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Runninghood

Instagram:  http://instagram.com/runninghood

Twitter:      https://twitter.com/Runninghood1