Mother Runner

Hey y'all!  Summer is officially over and all of the kids are in school!!!  Oh my gosh, no more daycare!!  It's a strange place to be since we've always had at least one or all 3 in daycare for the last (almost) 9 years.... Training..... We are training the kids and have been training the kids to only eat at the kitchen table.  And to leave all electronics somewhere else besides the kitchen table.  Training can be an odd word when used in relation to kids but it's so accurate.  Kids are trained in what to do and how to behave.  No they aren't animals, but they learn by being trained and watching the adults in their lives.  In the past, we've been a little lax and let the kids eat in the living room and occasionally have food in the playroom.  But we've had carpet installed upstairs and we've very recently purchased new living room furniture.  So what better time to train the kids and our selves to only eat at the new kitchen tabl...

Hi everyone!  I realize it's been a minute so I thought I'd stop by :) Last week we dropped the kids off with my parents for their 2 week summer vacation and then we jumped on a plane and headed out to Sacramento. Sacramento was just a brief stop as we grabbed a rental car and headed for Oakhurt, Cali and Yosemite National Park. So, when we booked everything the park and surrounding area wasn't on fire yet but we kept a close eye on things leading up to our trip and during our stay. Yosemite is one of the best places we've ever vacationed and while I wish we could have stayed longer - we only booked three days - it was a good thing we didn't because the fire was getting close and they were closing the main road and evacuating the park..... We stayed at a hotel on the main drag in Oakhurst and the staff was phenomenal!  They had recommendations ready for the local restaurants and even gave some great tips for Yosemite. While in Yosemite we managed to see ...

Happy almost Friday everyone! If you haven't checked Instagram or Twitter yet, don't wait any longer. There is a contest posted and all you need to do is follow me and like the post - super simple. The prize is an IDLife survival kit and packet of chocolate shake mix.  Two of my favorite things on the planet :) You can find me on Instagram as motherrunner0619 & on Twitter as motherrunner619. The winner will be announced on Friday evening CST.  GOOD LUCK!!!

Happy Friday - the 13th - everyone!! Here's to a great Friday and a great weekend for all of us :) We have a low key weekend planned for ourselves - haircut, pool time and a run for this momma. I'm sure the hubby and I will get to the gym as well and get in at least one workout over the weekend.  Then we have our littlest ones birthday on Monday.  She'll be FIVE?!!!  How did that even happen? Anyway, one thing we are hoping to get planned this weekend is making our own popsicles because we all have a little sweet tooth.  If you want to make your own here's a quick little recipe below. If you need the Hydate - you can find it here .

Hey everyone!  How is your week so far? Mine is going well.  The husband and I have been making it to the gym on a more regular basis with routines in hand :)  And I've been getting up before everyone else to ensure that I get my run completed. This morning I got in a solid 3 miles and the sunrise was beautiful!! The picture didn't need any editing, cropping or a lot of statistics to go with it.  Once I made it back home the morning was really just getting started & it's been a great day. So, I have a major sweet tooth and love cakes, cookies, shakes, any ice cream really.  I always want/try to go for the healthy sweet option and not the sugar filled choice that is so easy and convenient. So what are some of your favorite shake recipes? I've got a couple for you to try out and if you are in need of a good shake that doesn't have a bad after taste or anything 'bad for you' in it - just shop here. Almond Joy - add below to blender and blen...

I typically run to stay fit and feel good. Running is my favorite way to distress and spend time outside.  I can and prefer to run along with no expectations other than to just run.  But on occasion I like to run with other people.  When I can manage it, I drive to downtown Houston in rush hour traffic to run with a running group.  At times, there are 100+ people that show up and run either a 5 mile loop or a 3 mile loop.  I've recruited a couple people to run on Wednesday's as well. I've missed about 3 or 4 Wednesday in a row and will miss today as well because....LIFE.  As a working professional, wife and mother of 3 driving 30-45 minutes downtown during rush hour can be almost impossible. And then I was invited to run with another group that meets up on Saturday mornings around 5 or 530!!  It's perfect except for the fact that this Saturday, my husband has plans to help a co-worker move.....such is L.I.F.E. Our kids are still not at an age w...

The Instagram Giveaway was a huge success, thank you everyone for participating!! The winner was announced Friday evening and posted - what a lucky lady :) I will be hosting another giveaway via Instagram and Facebook during the month of July and will post details next week. So yesterday, was my birthday and it was great :)  I am one of those people that still loves to celebrate my birthday even as an adult and look forward to it and my special day. The kids want to get me a new car because mine is fat.... There are three of them and I drive an SUV.  If I had a smaller car, they wouldn't fit with all of their "necessary" items, haha.  Anyway, it's been raining like more than usual for Houston and I'm dying to get out and go fro a run.  I love to run in the ran but I'm will not go out if there are flash flood warnings (except for Harvey....I ran in that), lightening or thunder.  To many horror stories about people either getting swept away or electroc...

If  you haven't checked out the Insta giveaway, what are you waiting for?! The giveaway ends on Friday at 12:00PM CST and the winner will get..... A survive pack of IDLife products!  The products included are Hydrate in two flavors, Energy in two flavors and two Sleep Strips to help you get the best sleep around :) All you have to do is follow me, motherrunner0619, and like the original post.  Easy peasy!  And if you want additional entries, simply tag a friend.  Each tag counts for an additional entry so tag as many friends as you would like. I'll announce the winner Friday evening.  Good luck everyone

Today is the day!! I will be hosting a giveaway on Instagram this evening - around 5 p.m. CST.  The giveaway will run for the week and a winner will be selected on Friday. I'm super excited to share this product with you but I still can't tell you what it is :) You'll just have to follow me on Insta to catch it - @motherrunner0619

Hello Everyone!! To go along with my last post and the changes that I will be making to the blog I will be posting a special on Instagram!  You can find me on Instagram with the handle motherrunner0619 June is my birthday month and the 19th is my actual birthday so I'm going to do something fun next week leading up to it. It will deal with fitness and nutrition to help people get healthy and *hopefully* stay healthy.  Starting and maintaining a healthy way of life is very difficult because we've made it so easy to be lazy, sloppy, and obtain junk food. But as a society, we also send conflicting messages.  Be pretty, be skinny, be fit, be yourself, love yourself, fat shame, skinny shame....  There is no room for any of it.  We all, or most of us, know if we are actually being and eating the things that fuel our body properly. We know that eating cotton candy and drinking a coke is not the same thing as eating a salad topped with veggies and drinking wat...

So I feel like this blog is going to be changing.  Firstly, I have done anything since December!!!  That is a really long time to have no new content at all. Second, I don't know that I want to continue having the main content be fashion.  Although I love a good deal and find, it is not my true passion in life.  I'll still share what I find that is amazing but the focus is going to be shifting. Third, I don't have all the time in the world to shop, take photos and then edit and post them. So....  I'll be updating the blog soon with a new look.  The them will center more around running and fitness in general. Running is my air.  It is what keeps me centered and focused and sane.  If I wasn't able to run I would be completely different person and one that I probably wouldn't like very much. So since my last post, I've completed a half marathon in December 2017, a full marathon in January 2018 and I'm now looking at completing a 50k in Dece...

With the new year quickly approaching I find myself looking for ways to better myself.  One of the things I've started doing is adding in more strength training on day I don't feel like running.  I have terrible upper body strength and I've decided to change that and be better. I want to be better for myself, first and foremost.  I want to be better for my husband and for our 3 kids.  I want to be healthy for all of us, I want to be strong for all of us, and most importantly, I want our kids to see and know that being healthy doesn't mean you are stick thin but it means that you are strong and confident.  I want them to know that being healthy can be fun and shouldn't (always) feel like a chore, something else to check off of the to-do list before going to bed at night. So, the second thing I've done to better myself is signing up with IDLife.  IDLife is a health and wellness company that offers individually design vitamins & supplements for each sp...

I finally found a pair of shoes that I love and didn't cost an arm and a leg - and I bought them!  I am really excited because they finally arrived yesterday and they fit :)  I'm not a fan of ordering shoes online because if they don't fit I have to return them and wait on the whole process again...  Luckily, I went up half a size based on the measurements and they are perfect. I ended up ordering a pair of Dr. Scholl's online from Wal-Mart.  I know, I know, you hear the brand and automatically think old people shoes and support, etc.  But, I am going to be wearing them through the airport and for all majority of the trip to Berlin so I needed the support and I wasn't going to sacrifice my running shoes. The shoes are grey and coral and are the retro style that is making a huge comeback.  With shipping and all, they only set me back $32 and some change.  Every other pair I was considering was going to set me back at least $75 and I couldn't justif...

So, I am leaving for my business trip/mini vacation to Berlin in less than one month!!  The next few weeks are going to fly by and I still have so much to do.  Not only do I need to finalize what I am going to pack and wear for each day but I also need to plan and send out invitations for our middle daughter's 5th birthday party!  When did she get so big?! Anyway....one thing at a time.  I have booked my husband's plane ticket and the extra days at the hotel, we are considering it our belated anniversary/his early birthday present :)  We celebrated 10 years of marriage in January and I knew the business trip was coming up so we are celebrating late and early! So, here are a few of the items that I am planning on taking for the mini vacation part of the trip. Obviously, if I get the shoes below, the colors of the outfits will need to shift a little for a more uniformed, mix and match look. 1. I 'Heart' Ronson    2. Liz Claiborne   3. Liz Cl...

So I am delayed in getting this posted but the chalkboard was a huge success and the kids were thrilled!  They have played on it a lot and have even invited their friends over to color on the chalkboard with them. So after I applied the layers of chalkboard paint and let them dry, I took a piece of chalk and laid it on its side and "colored" the chalkboard with it.  You are doing this according to the directions to help prime the surface for use. After you color it and let it chill, you then take a damp rag and wipe it off.  Sounds easy enough, right?  Well, it is!  I was nervous about  it not working because I may have some how missed a step along the way...I even googled the directions just in case!! I also added a really cute and perfectly, imperfect burlap boarder to the chalkboard.  I had initially planned out creating a wood boarder for it and painting it to match the colors from the playroom pillows but ultimately decided against it...

So in just about 2 months exactly I will be in Berlin Germany for a work trip!  I am super excited about getting to travel and am really looking forward to putting together some great outfits for the trip.  The flight is going to be about 13 hours total, so comfortable attire there and back is also a huge must.  My flight was only 4 hours to Panama so my attire was a maxi skirt, short sleeve shirt, jean jacket and knock-off Toms that are some of the most comfortable shoes I own. There is never much down time so all of my attire has to be business casual or business professional.  Last year, I went to Panama City, Panama so I can't take the same outfits since the climates are drastically different.  So over the next few week, I will be sharing ideas I have for what I will wear for the conference.  And what items I will be adding to my wardrobe :) I am really hoping that I will have a bit of time to run with a co-worker so that we c...

So now that the laundry room shelf is done and I pleasantly surprised myself with how well it turned out I have decided that there is no reason that I cannot make the kids a giant chalkboard for the playroom! They kids know that they are getting a surprise for Valentine's Day and that it is something that I am making, but they have not figured it out yet.  One of the main reasons that I decided to do this is because they need another creative outlet.  I don't let them color with crayons or markers all of the time because they have colored on the walls, the floors, and each other....  Secondly, we don't have enough wall space to keep every single thing they create. The girls are very creative and really like to color together.  James like to color and draw as well when he is not playing Minecraft or creating elaborate train tracks that no one is allowed to help with... So, I have painted two coats of the chalk board paint on my sanded down plywood.  The san...

So this is our newest family member, Elliot!  He came to his new forever home with us on December 24, 2015 and life has been a little more crazy since :) The above are just a few of the wonderful pictures I have currently of him on my phone.  As you can see, he fits in very nicely to our family and we wouldn't have it any other way. He has made himself comfortable on every piece of living room furniture for long naps and cuddles.  He has tested out the level of comfort of every bed upstairs and downstairs.  He has even joined the girls for dress up time as the lovely Queen Elsa. He has even fulfilled the role of my running buddy for those morning runs that I have a love/hate relationship with.  He is a bit like me if it is really cold in the morning - he would rather come back inside and snuggle on the couch until the kids wake up and its time to get ready for the day. He has also filled the important role of protector even though he...

So, when we bought our house last year I didn't give the laundry room much thought although I have always wanted a larger laundry room than we have had in the past.  The room is rather small and serves as an entrance from the garage - one door in front of the washer and one door to the side of the dryer...  With the doors there is literally no room to keep a laundry hamper in there because the doors won't open without hitting it. I also have no where to fold laundry other than on the couch or love seat and with a dog in the house that is not  great idea - hello hair, smell and random socks disappearing :) Anyway, I came up with a project about 3 weeks ago that my husband didn't like from the very beginning.  My project was to get each of the kids there own small laundry basket so that they can carry it up and down the stairs and to install some sort of shelf or table top on top of the washer and dryer.  My reasoning for the table top was to have somewhere to...

I have a couple of color combinations that I love together and was recently reminded of one that I don't wear all that often - beige, black, dark pink/fuchsia and blue/teal for an extra pop of color. I was a little lost on what I was going to wear to work the other day because nothing seemed appealing that was clean.  I had to literally force myself to just throw something on and when I did, I was in love!  And I love when that happens on those terrible mornings. Cardigan , Button-Up , Shoes , Skirt Here is an example of a similar outfit that I wore this week with the colors that I mentioned.  All items are similar to the brand and price point that I was at for all items purchased.  In addition to making a great outfit when put together, they also are wardrobe staples that can help you create many, many outfits with items already in your closet. I hope that y'all have a great weekend!