Home away from home

Sigh. We love our Denver visits. This one was extra special because we got to meet our new nephew Evan AND see Marsha and Steve's new place in Colorado Springs. The weekend flew by. It was 70 degrees and sunny every day. Molly and Will played pretty much nonstop from morning to night. We went to the zoo, the park, and Jason and I even got out for a double date with Jeremy and Megan while Gma and Papa watched the kids (check out Lower48 if you find yourself in Denver...the food is fantastic!).

Here are some of the highlights from our trip:

The primary reason for our visit. Evan!

More Evan

Two ants on a log. Cousin friends!

Train time with Uncle Jason (Dad)

Slide time with Papa

Thank you Jeremy and Megan for hosting us (again!). Denver is really starting to feel like our home away from home. I wish we could split time. Spring in Denver, summer-fall in Evanston, winter in Florida... a girl can dream!

Out with the old, in with the new

Molly finished up gymnastics on Saturday and went straight over to the ice rink to try skating. She fell a few times, but loved it! We will miss gymnastics, but the next session was already full. Time to try something new.

Moon walking on the balance beam

Last gymnastics class

First time on skates 

Looking slightly more comfortable

Skating with Kate

Step it up 2

My Fitbit stats for last month tell the story. The sad truth about trading my train commute for a driving one is that I am markedly less active. 

Green is good...the last 2 weeks have been lazy and blue

What to do? What to do? Now that the weather is getting warmer (40s - 50s the next few days!) and the mornings are getting brighter (yay, daylight savings!), I am hoping to start running every now and again before work. The big question is, now that I no longer have a half marathon looming in my future, can I really motivate myself to get up and go?? 

I've been back and forth about whether or not to sign up for another half and can't decide. I definitely want to run a couple of 10k races. But I don't know if I want another summer of training. Now that I know I can do it, maybe I can be a little more relaxed about the distance runs. Or maybe I will just wait until later in the season to decide.

Either way, I know I need to step it up this Spring!

Stitch Fix

For the last 7 years, I've pretty much been able to wear whatever I wanted to work. For me, this usually meant jeans and some type of top. Occasionally, I would throw on a dress or purple skinny jeans and come to work slightly more pulled together. But my standard default was definitely on the more casual side, even resorting to gym shoes or Chuck Taylors on days I felt especially lazy or overworked.

My new work environment is business casual Mon-Thurs and I knew I was going to have to dig pretty deep in the closet to come up with appropriate stuff to wear. I don't love shopping -- I don't really have time, but even when I do, I sometimes find it hard to pull the trigger and spend money on myself. Enter: Stitch Fix.

I first heard about Stitch Fix from my friend Meredith after I saw an Instagram post that she was hired as a stylist. I checked out the website and it looked like exactly what I needed to start building up my work wardrobe. Basically, you sign up online, fill out a style profile, make some notes about what you're looking for, and about a week later, a box with 5 hand-picked items shows up at your door. You keep what you like and return the rest. If you decide to keep all 5 items, you save 25%. Fantastic!

I was so excited to get my first shipment. It showed up on my last day of work at my previous job, which was oddly fitting. But I was even more excited when I opened it up and saw that the stylist (Meredith, in my case) totally nailed it. I asked for some color to go with black and gray pants and this is what I got (all items come with style sheets to show you how to dress them down or up):

The goods -- 4 tops and a scarf

Everything fit and was priced reasonably. The only shirt I wasn't sure about was the orange one, but with the 25% discount, it basically ended up being free! I'm sure when I have a tiny bit of color in the spring, it will be perfect with jeans on Fridays.

Here's a pic of me in one of my new items:

Posing with my favorite model

If you're interested in signing up and checking it out for yourself, use this link: 

http://stitchfix.com/referral/4692963

I'll save $25 on my next Fix :) And trust me, there will be another! I'll need a couple of skirts when the weather starts to get warmer and was also thinking of requesting a shipment before my trip to Spain in June. Excelente!