Running the Race

I voluntarily had slim and color threw at me, my child, and husband. 

You see... the shirt says it all; we signed up for our first 5k! 

This was a major goal for me. Over the last two years, we have made great strides to living healthier inside and out. We have cut out a significant amount of our meat and dairy intake started eating about 80% organic, switched to homemade products (like toothpaste, shampoo, and dish soap), started growing a bit of our own food, and started working out. All this, not to brag but to be better, for ourselves and child (and God willing, children) and to live by examples to our Darling son.

Never had I thought I would be signing up for a 5k. That's just not me. I'm not, and never was the "athletic" chick. But when a friend whom I never thought would do a 3.10-mile run told me she was going to do it, it was just the push I needed. an 'aha' moment I guess that pushed me to want to do more, better.
So I signed us up.

Did we run it? no. We mostly walked it and jogged about one mile. I know personally I could have run at least some of it and/or jogged more of it, but I wanted to do it with my family. This was for us, not me.

It was about letting Button run a fourth of a mile (which he totally did) and walk most of it with us. It was about seeing his face light up as we went under "color tunnels". It was about watching my man carry that darling boy on his shoulders across the finish line and showing him through example that healthy doesn't equal stress or sacrifice but joyfulness and blessings.

At the end of the day yes, he was tired and ready for a nap.

But, he talked about it for a week later and asked for "colors" every night.
Often, I have found, that the hardest trials we go through, if we push through them instead of giving in or giving up, become the most rewarding.

Maybe next time we will go even further... or at least faster but for now, I am just so happy to say we have done this; that I had the endurance, not to just do a 5k, but to pace myself for my family... so we could do it together. That is a whole other 5k all of its own!

Country Living fair

What an adventure! Have you ever heard of the magazine called 'Country Living'? It's kind of a big deal for this county-at-heart chick. Anyways, about three years ago I saw an ad in their magazine promoting the 'Country Living fair' I was all like "what?! no way! I.MUST.GO" well... that year I got pregnant. Long story short, three years later and that dream was just no longer financially possible and the idea of a road trip with a baby made me want to pull my hair out.
Well, folks, it happened! This year it happened! I wish I had more dough to burn but all in all, it was everything I wanted it to be and more and next year, God willing, I will save more to spend and bring a trailer :P.  Here's a little snippet of our country living fair road trip!

 of course, my beautiful mother joined us.

and here is what we brought home.

 this is a project. One I hope to put lots of love into. It is a vintage, queen size quilt.... one side. My mother is going to help me stitch it the "proper" way a quilt is stitched. Since it was not a finished product, I got it for $40! Most vintage finished quilts go for $100, on the cheap side and NEVER this large for that cheap! This was a steal for sure and I feel like, in a way, I get to bring back the love that someone once put into them and never had the time to finish. It is not perfect, it has one small ink blot on a corner of it but I love that about it.

The other thing I got was a vintage apron.

Something about putting on an apron each morning gets me motivated. I feel like, in a way, it's my uniform and helps me get going.
So that is a little tidbit from our fun road trip.