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!

Blast from the past

If you've ever wondered what I looked like as a child, here's a glimpse! Have I ever posted these before? 

Looking serious

A happier facial expression

Betsy and I with our grandparents (Ruth and John)

A total Griswold vacation photo. From left: My dad, Susie, my mom, my grandpa, Betsy (in pink), me (in yellow), and my Aunt Suzie. My parents are probably about the same age Jason and I are now!

Big tooth

Some of my loyal readers may be wondering how my first week at the new job is going, so I'll start out by saying, it's great! The people are all very friendly and although I don't have much to do (yet), it is nice that they are giving me time to get settled and do a little background reading. The drive hasn't been too bad (except for today because it was snowing), but I think I will need a couple of weeks to figure out the best times to leave. I have the option to adjust my hours, and think it might end up being better from a driving perspective to work from 8:30 to 4:30. That also means it will be easier to get Molly at the end of the day, although there may be some mornings when she will have to wake up a little earlier than she is used to.

 

But enough about that. Let's talk about my tooth! Isn't that the way it always goes? As soon as I need to switch my insurance coverage, I find out I have a loose front tooth (one of the big ones on top) and need some potentially expensive dental work. Waaay back in the day, I flipped over the front of my bike and landed smack on my face and front teeth. Looking at my dental x-rays now, it seems the roots on those front teeth never fully developed and are much smaller than they should be.

 

If you haven't noticed, my front teeth are on the large side. They get bumped occasionally. And now one is loose :( Eventually we'll get the dental coverage sorted out and I'll be able to go in and get a wire bonded to the back of my front teeth to hold everything together. But for now, I'm living in total fear that the thing is going to fall out. I can tell that it's loose. It hurts a little bit. I've been trying to avoid sandwiches or any kind of food that needs to be bitten into. What if it dies and goes gray? I'd look like a completely different person. Teeth can be replaced, but I'm pretty sure the process takes a little bit of time. There would surely be some sort of awkward period when I'd have to walk around with my hand over my mouth. Noooo!

 

Here I am, assuming the worst. It will probably all be fine. But I will be much more comfortable when I have my coverage in hand and an appointment with a new dentist. Until then, let's hope the tooth fairy stays far, far away from our house!

Unemployed (for 2 days)

I thought it would be enough to have 2 days off in between jobs...now I realize I should have taken a week! I was (selfishly) planning on using both days to relax and run errands, but as soon as Molly figured out I wasn't going to work, she started campaigning for a "home day." The main reason I made this switch was to be more available for the Molls, so how could I say no?

Somehow I managed to cram 2 days worth of errands into 1. Today was not relaxing in any way shape or form, but it was definitely productive. I worked out, ran errands, picked up groceries, cleaned out my closet, got my eyebrows waxed, and dropped off 6 bags of stuff to the Salvation Army. Hurrah!

I'll still have time to veg out tonight and watch a few episodes of Call the Midwife. And then tomorrow...who knows?! I promised Molly a trip to the library. We haven't been in a while -- blame the weather! And then Jason gets back from his work trip late afternoon, so we were thinking of taking Molly to a Teppanyaki restaurant for dinner. She loves fried rice and will probably get a kick out of seeing the chef chop and cook all of the food right at the table. Jason and I will enjoy it even if she doesn't :)

Sigh. 3 more days of freedom...