Tracey's Space

Look Who's Reading!

I love these New Balance running ads.

I especially like this one because I'm always jealous when I'm in the car and I drive by people running along the lake:

I swear I must have an addictive personality. I guess it's fortunate that I'm not addicted to bad things.

Be A Mind Sticker!

The funniest thing I've seen all week:

Can you believe that people actually used made commercials like these with a straight face?

S.P.R.I.N.G.

Oh my lord I thought this day would never come. This past weekend (after having a snowstorm on April 1st) it reached almost 60 degrees here in Milwaukee! It's like people have hatched from their little Wisconsin winter pods and are out walking dogs, riding bikes and running by the lake. Heaven. We took the girls to a local bike shop and bought them both new bikes. A two-wheeler for Juli, and Ava's first real bike with training wheels. I've got my eye on a sweet bike there myself that we may pick up in the next couple of weeks. I haven't had a bike since around middle school, but since I also once thought I would never be the type of person to run multiple miles for enjoyment, i think it's about time I reconsider the bike thing and give it a try.

Speaking of running multiple miles for fun, I don't really want this to be strictly a running blog, but I ran outside for the first time since last October (back when I was really pitiful at running outdoors) and I can't believe that I jogged around the park/neighborhood for a FULL HOUR. I didn't have a watch on me but I decided to run at a slightly slower pace than i do on the treadmill and to just keep going until I absolutely had to stop. Well, that point never happened and when I got to the end of my playlist on my ipod and I really could not believe it. I'm starting to think that the five pounds I've put back on since the middle of December may actually be muscle. (Yeah yeah, excuses, excuses....) Still, with the weather finally turning around I'm looking forward to may afternoons and evenings like the one I had last night.

Happy Snoopy Dance

I've kind of been a maniac lately. I'm finally back on track as far as healthy eating goes (with a few small exceptions) and I feel like I'm in my comfortable zone again. Like, so comfortable that i've been running my 5K (3.1 miles) in just under 30 minutes now. Really! It's nuts. Usually I like to run it in about 32-33 minutes but in the past couple of weeks I've cut out any walking and just jog through straight for the whole 3.1 miles and I barely squeak in at about 29:54. This is, of course, on a treadmill in a climate controlled gym with no changes in the incline so take it with a small grain of salt, but still! Accomplishment! I've been logging about 5 miles, 5 times a week plus some weight training and a bit of the elliptical. Plus, I had another fantastic massage yesterday on my day "off". Oh, the gluttony.

Juliana is away this weekend for her first Girl Scouts camping trip. (Indoor at a lodge because it's still freaking snowing on and off here in Wisconsin.) With only one child in the house it looks like we're in for a laid back weekend. I almost don't even care that I still have boxes of kitchen cabinets taking up my entire dining room- taunting me because I have no idea when they will be installed.

Almost.

Words of Wisdom

I've been sick the past couple of days. Again. While we are getting ready for school in the morning Juliana says to me:

"Hey Mom, maybe you'd feel better if instead of drinking diet Dr. Pepper in the morning, you drank water."

I've hit that point in my life where my kids are starting to be smarter than me.

30!

Finally! Geez, sometimes it seems like I should already be this old but I'm just now getting here.

(I've posted this photos a couple of times before but I just love it so much. That, and chocolate cake.)

Now where were we... It goes without saying that Vegas was awesome. No freebie penthouse suite this time around but I somehow won 300 bucks playing craps (I know! Really!) and fed myself lots of five star food and wine. Mmmm. The company I was with didn't hurt either. On the personal assessment front, I will reveal that I lost twenty pounds this year between Juli's birthday and Christmas. Yay! Unfortunately since then five have creeped back up so my target for the next two months is to get that back off plus a couple more for insurance (which is what I had intended to do last fall but once Christmas hit I was frankly distracted again by all that chocolate.) I finished my 365 Days Flickr photo project although I still have to upload the final week or so.

Since I (surprisingly) have reached my goal for the past year of getting into fabulous shape I suppose I need to pick a new goal for the coming year. Basically-but in a very vague way- I want to take this new decade I'm living in as an opportunity to try new things. I'm not sure entirely what that will mean yet but I'm just putting the idea out there as I haven't quite figured it out for myself yet. With this birthday I'm entering into a new phase, Ava's getting ready for kindergarten in the fall, times they are a-changin'.

As far as this website goes, I can't seem to put it away even if I go for long periods with not much to say. As soon as I figure out how to do it, I'll be combining this site with the Gessner Girls page again so look for that to change.

I also have an awesome photo of Jason and I on a gondola ride at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. Coming soon, folks. Oh yeah, and I have my first massage EVER scheduled for tomorrow morning. Life continues to be good.

Needed More Than You Can Know

Forecast for Las Vegas, Nevada this weekend: 75 degrees and sunny!

Soon.

Baby Jonas!

Me and my new nephew.

Way to Go Wisconsin!

I am not an island. I am not alone.
I am my intentions trapped here in this flesh and bone.

-Melissa Etheridge

It's been a good day folks.

Obama Rally in Milwaukee

Aging hipsters for Obama!

Another Point of View

Ok, that was kind of snarky but sometimes I can't help myself.

Current Mood: Inspired

The moment that sealed the deal for me nearly four years ago:

I'm feeling tentative about caring so much about this but I can't help myself.

Thoughts on the Hannah Montana 3-D Movie Experience

Dear Hannah/Miley: I know that you're trying to establish your identity as being separate from the character you play on tv but when you took off your blonde wig and transformed halfway through the movie for us to "Meet Miley Cyrus" my four-year-old was very disturbed. I hate to break it to you and I know the wig makes you look like a knock-off Lindsey Lohan but face it- you've got to give the kids what they want. My girl wants the Disney manufactured Hannah Robot and not the real you (despite your positive message of Girl Power and Always Be True to Yourself and Yadda Yadda.) Funny how that works out isn't it?

Dear Jonas Brothers: Your hair is too long and your pants are too tight. End of story. (When did skinny jeans become hip for boys anyway? I'm old.)

Death of a Blog (?)

Well, lets face it. I'm not much of a blogger as of late. In fact, as my girls get older and my life gets busier I find it's almost another chore to carve out time to post updates. Furthermore, the bulk of my posts are basically photos which could just be posted on Flickr and left at that. So....I'm not fully committing to saying I'm done per se, but the truth is I'm most likely going to phase my online presence to being strictly on my Flickr account (which can be seen here!) I'm toying with the idea of combining this blog with the Gessner Girls blog so I at least don't have two websites that are woefully neglected, but for the time being both sites will be on hiatus until further notice when I can figure out exactly what I want to do with them. Fear not, I'm hoping to increase my activity on Flickr because I don't intend to stop posting photographs anytime soon.

Until next time...