{eighteen}

i wrote this post, and accidentally left it as a draft last week.  oops. so i'm gonna back date it so it falls where it was supposed to.  sorry :)

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with my crazy work schedule, i can't always fit my long runs in over the weekend.  so a midweek long run it was... 18 miles.  there is something about those 18-20 mile runs during marathon training that are unnerving.  i've put in the time, built up the miles, and yet inevitably, i feel a sense of dread and uneasiness before these distances.   luckily, i had a friend who was willing to join in on the crazy!

almost all of the snow had melted except for a few really shay parts of the path, and we ended up doing three loops around the park.  the sun was trying to shine over the lake and the temp was just warm enough.

photo via

compare this run's view to the same lake on my long run a few weeks ago... spring is coming.  soon.

it feels good to have that run out of the way, and not be thinking about still fitting it in over the weekend.  and we finished in a pretty impressive time too {10:15 min/mile}. 

not too shabby!

{bowling}

brody went bowling for the first time last saturday, for a birthday party for a little friend from school.

there were bumpers and ramps for the littles

he had such a great time, 

once he figured out how it all worked. 

waiting for his turn was especially difficult with so much excitement

there was pizza & cupcakes & black lights.  little boy heaven.    he had such a fun time, and were so happy carson included us in his birthday adventure.  

 anyone interested in joining us for a bowling adventure? might be a fun way to pass the time during these upcoming cold winter weekends!

the rest of {#hls13}

i decided i was going to tackle the rest of my hls13 experience in one review.  see day #1 here.  so sit down, grab a cup of coffee, because this is going to be a long one! 

don't say i didn't warn you.

i started friday morning with a cup of hot tea, and a view.  

first up on friday's agenda was a tour of the test kitchen at wild harvest organics. 

{a post to come on this excursion later this week}  

 after arriving back at the hotel, i went to the registration table for the conference.  here i finally got to meet heather who was one of the two organizers of this years event.  you and julie did an amazing job.

i headed back to my room where i promptly dug through all my goodies.  

the photo above is only about 1/4 of the stuff we received.  

oh yeah, i also took a nap and walked to target (which is two stories, btw) during this bit of downtime.

next up was my roundtable discussion with kelly, from livingthebefore.com.

we co-hosted the discussion about making your health a priority.  we had a great group, and were able to share lots of great tips involving ways to fit in fitness, suggestions for meal planning, clean eating, keeping a positive attitude, etc.   

here are a the awesome group of girls that attended our session!

it was great {albeit, i was a little nervous} to be a part of the sessions and i am already looking forward to contributing more the hls organization in the future.  thanks to everyone that participated.

after the session was a quick change of clothes, then off to a fit mingle at a local park with the trendy trainer, caroline. 

 caroline, that was an awesome workout! i am still sore lady :)

after our workout it was time for dinner.

kristen and i hit up barrio for dinner.  it was a casual little mexcian place.  we sat outside, shared some guacamole and queso fundido and talked for what seemed like forever. 

soon, it was time to get ready for the hls cocktail party.  

 the cocktail party was at the beautiful guthrie theater in downtown minneapolis.  we had a great night socializing and enjoying the views.  the cocktail party was a nice way for everyone to interact and get to know each other a little bit before starting the sessions saturday morning.

one of the hls bucket list items was to take a photo with your roommate during the cocktail party.  

don't you love kristens dress? i had dress envy all weekend. 

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 saturday morning, i went back to caribou coffee.  omg. that pumpkin chai latte.  

(this pic is from friday morning.  didn't take a saturday photo #bloggerfail)

i am embarrassed to admit i was here friday morning, saturday morning and sunday morning.  

sad we don't have caribou in stl!

next, we started all of the blog sessions.  i was too busy furiously writing down notes to take any pics.  

{this one is courtesy of our hls photographer, megan}

saturday afternoon we finished our sessions with some yoga sculpt.  

i was looking forward to a nice, relaxing stretching session, but yoga sculpt was not it.  katie kicked my butt.  this was an awesome workout!

for saturdays dinner, we visited Masa.  

another really yummy mexican restaurant with a really cool vibe.  unfortunately, is started raining during dinner and we had to run back in the pouring down rain.  the food was fantastic though.  

wish i could remember what i ate.  some type of enchilada. 

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after dinner, kristen had to head back home, so i headed up to hang out with caroline, melanie, becky and katie.  these girls were so much fun to hang out with. 

we didn't take any pics saturday night, but here is one from sunday morning.

sunday morning started with the hls 5K.  we headed out from the hotel, to the minneapolis sculpture garden and then back. 

all the hls-er's before the 5k

 some cheesy pictures were taken, because we are tourists after all.

with another stop at caribou coffee before heading back for breakfast. 

  what?! don't judge.  

the conference finished up with breakfast, some raffle prizes, chair massages and the announcement of next years dates and locations.  september 11-14.  madison, wisconsin.  

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i had lots of time to kill before my flight, so of course i filled myself up with plans.  

first things first... packing. how am i going to get all this home?! plus my clothes? agghh.

ok, well i had to check a bag, but i did it!

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after the conference, i met a sorority sister from college that i haven't seen in almost 10 years for lunch   

at spoon river.  the owner was our keynote speaker on saturday at the conference.  the restaurant specilaizes in local, organic, foods.  it was ah-mah-zing. 

after lunch, allison and i headed over to the mall of america.  when in rome, right? 

i didn't do any shopping (becuase i didn't have room in my suitcase to shove anything else in) but i took a few pictures before jumping on the light rail for a ride to the airport.

i spent a few hours camped out at the little lounge area reading all my new friends blogs.  

this little area was pretty cool, with an ipad to order food from, keep you updated on your flight status, and a charging station for your electronics.  my hubby has talked for years about how this would be such a cool concept for a restaurant.  he was less than thrilled to find out that someone beat him to his idea... hahahaha.

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overall, i had the greatest weekend at my first hls.  i am so thankful to have met so many amazing people, and to come home with a few new friends.  i hope to apply many of the new information and tips i learned during the summit to my blog, and am eagerly awaiting any opportunities that may have come from the networking i did this weekend. 

thank you hls13!

{the fourth}... finally

i just realized today i had never actually published the draft post i had been working on from july 4th.

so, here it is. just a little delayed... 

our fourth was laid back, but full of fun, family and food...

i started out the morning with a speedy 10K at the o'fallon firecracker 10K run, where i set my very own personal record.  afterwards, i met the family at the wentzville donut cafe for breakfast.  apparently, we were too hungry to have stopped and taken any pictures.  they were pretty busy, as they sat right on the parade route. 

prior to meeting for donuts, we set up a spot on the parade route. we walked down and got settled into our spot after breakfast. here is the fam... looking less than thrilled that i am bombarding them with photos.

brody really enjoyed the parade this year, and we all really enjoyed the mild weather.  at last year's parade it was nearing 100+ degrees.  after an appropriate amount of candy eating, bead grabbing, whining and snack eating, we headed back to the house to get ready for a family bbq/birthday party.  

the bbq included lots of food (again, no pictures), brody and daddy lighting fireworks, an a million snakes and snap pops with grandma.  

after it got dark, we sat in the driveway, played with some sparklers and watched the neighbors firework display.  they always do a great job, but this years may be the best.one.yet.  

hope you all had a great fourth!