Today I did a an easy 3.5 miles on the treadmill. Although it was a crisp, sunny day, my only chance to run was during Sweet Pea’s nap. Of course, I *could* have gotten up early to run, but I didn’t think running twice within 12 hours would have been prudent. This training cycle is the first time I’ve consistently run five days a week without getting injured and I really don’t want to mess that up. Given my history of aches, pains, and injuries, for years, I have ran a maximum of four days per week, cross training on the other days. Much of what I’ve read about running has said that increasing run frequency, even if it does not represent a monster volume increase, is quite beneficial. I’ll let you know in early November how that works for me.

I spent the first mile of the run adding up the miles I’d run this week in my head, checking my math, then double checking it a few more times. I determined that 3.5 miles would be perfect, as far as a gradual increase in mileage (for a total of 36 miles) without being too drastic. And the timing couldn’t have been better, because although I’d only gotten through part of an episode of Mad Men, just as the console flashed 3.494 miles, the baby monitor lit up. Side note: I used to think video monitors were for helicopter parents, but actually I am sorry I judged. Because I can’t tell you how many times I peeked in on Sweet Pea to a) make sure she was asleep b) make sure she was warm enough or c) just to gaze at her cuteness only to inadvertently wake her up. (OMG does all this compulsive peeking make me a helicopter parent!? The irony! Should I raise my white flag and just get on Amazon and order a video monitor?) The worst is when she’s on the verge of a nap and we accidentally make eye contact. I abruptly look away and sneak out as if it never happened, but we both know it did, while she screams bloody murder as her defiance is renewed and I whisper curse words, having just potentially ruined my chance to get a few things done in silence.

Having run for only 35 minutes, I had a lot of extra free time today. So I went shopping. An innocent trip to Nordstrom Rack to return something turned into much, much more, though I am proud to say I was able to get in and out of there in between Sweet Pea’s first and second naps, (which gave me 90 minutes of actual shopping time). This most excellent success in time management was no small feat, given my tendency to pick through every rack, touching anything soft, inspecting anything sparkly, and checking the price tag of things I don’t even like. I think my inefficient shopping style may be a result of my subconscious desire to heal my childhood wounds. See, my parents’ idea of a fun Sunday afternoon while I was growing up was to peruse antique shops. Being too young to stay home alone and old enough to resent it, spending hours inside dank stores where I neither liked nor could afford anything, the experience of being dragged along was
absolutely stifling. I can still hear my mom saying, “Look with your eyes.” I promise I will never use that expression as a parent. I still hear it in my nightmares. (Just kidding, Mom).

Anyway, I came home from Nordstrom Rack with a few great finds. Now for some show and tell…

I’ve been wanting a new gym bag for a while. My old Eddie Bauer bag was a solid bag, but after about ten years of frequent use, the part that keeps shoes or a wet swimsuit separate from the main compartment ripped and that really bummed me out. This Le Sport Sac is a colorful, functional, retro replacement. Bonus: When I went to put the contents of my old gym into this new guy, I discovered the bag came with a mini zipper pouch of the same design. Score!

Next great find: A super cute dress!(Total impulse buy). It’s kind of hard to tell in the pic, but the material is sheer so you have to wear leggings and a cami underneath. Well, I suppose you don’t have to do anything, but that’s would I would do. Note: This dress is pretty nursing friendly, considering most dresses are not, period. Because you have to wear something underneath, if I was going to wear it with Sweet Pea around (e.g. not out on a date while she was home with a sitter), I could easily wear a nursing tank underneath and it would not be complicated to maneuver, as it is fairly loose and the empire waist is elastic. I have to say, one thing I never considered before I had a baby was the nursing-friendly quotient of my wardrobe. Now when I shop, the first thing I think when I see an item is “Can I nurse in this?” PS I don’t think this photo does it justice. It’s really very cute and flattering in person.

I also got a wallet. My previous wallet situation was a disaster.  I don’t even want to talk about it, but it wasn’t really a wallet, it was just stuff organized into stacks with like items together and rubber bands or money clips holding the stacks together. There was one for very important stuff (license, library card, Moxie Moms membership card), one for frequently used cards (debit, credit), one for gift cards, one for frequent customer cards (Cafe Solle, Vic’s, Aspen Leaf, etc). There was another with stuff that’s important but rarely used (AAA membership, health insurance cards, car insurance card, etc). The thing was, I didn’t have a regular wallet to fit inside the orange mini purse I’ve been using. But the orange purse is key because it holds all important things (keys, phone, lip gloss, bus pass, hospital ID) and can either fit into the diaper bag or can be used on its own. Now that I have acquired a functional wallet that fits nicely into the orange purse… it will be easier to continue buying stuff. The irony of this is not lost on me.  And this is why I don’t really consider myself crunchy. Yes I had a home birth, yes I’m breastfeeding, yes we have chickens, yes we take home random scraps from restaurants to give to said chickens or to give to the worm compost, yes I made my own laundry detergent, no we don’t use paper towels or paper napkins, and no we have no grass in our front yard, only native flowers and a veggie garden, but I can’t be crunchy because I love buying stuff and I’m afraid I always will. Oh yeah, and our child is being vaccinated according to the CDC guidelines, but don’t even get me started on that… With no further adieu, the wallet:

 The best part is, it’s PINK on the inside!

The best part was I had some gift cards along with credit from the item I returned so most of this stuff was free. (Ok, “free.”) Woot!