Slice of Life #9

Did you enjoy mother’s day? We were having kind of a weird weekend and nothing much came of it. The kids made me some cute cards and we had a hellish outing to Red Lobster on Saturday night. On Sunday some friends came over and we were able to eat a pretty epic meal outside (enjoying my early mother’s day gift of patio furniture some more).

I’ve started running outside now that it’s finally nice-ish. It’s amazing how quickly my stamina has increased and I actually might be experiencing that “runner’s high” that people talk about. By the end of my run it’s easier for me to keep running than it is to slow down and walk, compared to the beginning of my run where I feel like I can barely run for a minute and my knees are screaming at me. I know I definitely need a new pair of shoes, and I have my eyes on these Nikes. I can’t believe how flashy running shoes are in general these days. That pair isn’t so bad but some of the others… I’d rather not have eyes drawn to me while I’m running thankyouverymuch.

Speaking of shoes, I need all kinds in a bad way. I have a gift card for Tieks, otherwise they would be way out of my price range and out of my life. I’m trying to decide on a color and, again, not a flashy gal here. But since I wear completely neutral colors all the time I thought it might be good to have some brightly colored shoes. Please look through and tell me what a girl who adores charcoal grey should choose!

I also have some money to spend on TOMS, which are not my favorite shoes in the world (primarily because of the way they stretch and that weird square folded toe they all have), but I thought they might be good for when I take the kids to the park or go for a walk. I just want every pair of shoes that I own to be my favorite pair that I’ve already owned for five years, fit perfect, and hold up great. Totally not reasonable, but still, will someone just make me buy some shoes already? It’s 70 degrees out and I’m still walking around in boots.

I feel like we’ve mentally skipped over spring and just jumped right into summer. Yesterday I took the kids on a playdate to the park where we walked and ate outside, despite it being only 50 degrees outside. The kids were troopers, but I was freezing. As usual our front yard is one giant mud puddle with Little House on the Prairie grass growing up quickly to hide it until you’re ankle deep. It seems so cruel to have a field of grass beckoning out children out to play but having to tell them they’ll get sucked up by the mud if they go down there so we’d better drive to the park. Have I mentioned they’re completely ripping out our street all summer? It’s every little boy’s dream and every mom’s nightmare. I keep waiting for our car to get hit by a dump truck.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I didn’t know what to watch on TV since most of my favorite shows were ending for the season. Thankfully I went to the movies and saw a preview for Fargo on FX (random, I know). I think it’s technically a mini-series based on the movie. I had a blast binge watching the first four episodes and then I had to resign myself to waiting for it to come on every week. The cast is phenomenal and the storyline is engrossing if not frustrating. Of course Mad Men has also been keeping me happy. This last week’s episode was the funniest one I’ve ever seen. I don’t think of Mad Men as a comedy, but that whole bit with the computer was ridiculous.

I had been looking for something to binge watch through Netflix whenever my husband isn’t home. If I know I’m going to be spending the evening alone it’s nice to have something to look forward to that makes me sit down and relax, otherwise I end up on my computer or painting the house or something painfully productive like that. In the past I’ve blown through Alias and Rescue Me. It’s hard to find a show that can hold my attention while still being something Jeron wouldn’t want to see. We went through an amazing little series called America In Primetime a couple of weeks ago and they included a lot of Desperate Housewives examples, so I thought I’d give that a try this time. I’m kind of embarassed how much I like it. It has a lot of really interesting takes on motherhood and friendship.

Fooooood. What have we been eating? I’m not going to tell you. Because I’m instagramming it now! Follow me @theliveinkitchen or #theliveinkitchentonight to see what I’m making for dinner each night (weekends excluded).

What have you been eating / watching / doing?