Happy Friday, friends! Who else is as excited for the weekend as I am? We’re surprising the kiddos with a trip to Great Wolf Lodge tomorrow (sshhhh!) — our first time there! (Recap and review to come, of course.) And then I am taking the beginning of next week off to give Buddy a bit of a breather between camp and school, which starts a week from Monday already!
Anyway, I know my Friday posts tend to be all over the place, but today I’m going old school … back to Friday Favorites (or Favorite Things Friday, as I called it once upon a time). So here are the items, stories, and other things that have caught my eye over the last few weeks.
>>Another mother runner in my town suggested the Footpath app and I am loving it! It’s perfect for finding a running route when you know the mileage you want to run but aren’t sure where to go. I used it again last Sunday to find a route for my friend L and I to run together, since we both had 10 miles on the docket. We met at a town halfway between us and I mapped out a 10 mile loop. Easy peasy. And the basic version is free!
>>So Mimi starts town soccer in the next week or so, so we went out last weekend to buy her a pair of cleats…her very first. And, in typical Mimi fashion, she demanded they be pink. Well, we couldn’t find all pink cleats, but we did come across these Nike versions with pink on the bottom, which was apparently acceptable to Miss Mimi. Now we’re on to shin guards and socks and, of course, she has LOTS of ideas of what she wants (although I had to inform her they don’t make My Little Pony soccer socks).But I have to admit, these tiny little pink cleats are pretty freaking cute.
>>Last Saturday, while Buddy was still at his Grandma’s, Dr. G and I took Mimi canoeing along the Charles River. We actually own a canoe, although we only take it out a few times a year. Which is too bad, because we’re only 20 minutes away from gorgeous views like this that make you forget you’re in suburbia.
>>I’ve tried a bunch of meal kit delivery services over the last year or so, and this past week I had the opportunity to check out Chef’d, which is offering a selection of branded a la carte meals specially selected by the editors at Runner’s World. The ingredients for the two meals I chose — Caramelized Onion and Fig Pizza with Arugula and Goat Cheese and Portobello and Asparagus Farfalle with Basil Pesto — showed up at my house in great condition, the produce all looked fantastic, and the instructions easy. But most importantly, they were so delicious!
The pizza was, my far, the favorite of the two. I mean, c’mon, fig + goat cheese + caramelized onions + arugula? Some of my favorite ingredients ever. I still stand by my theory about gourmet meal kit delivery systems — they’re expensive but would be great as a gift for a new mom or if you’re renting a house for a weekend and don’t want to deal with grocery shipping — and Chef’d is no exception.
>>You guys know I’m obsessed with my audiobooks, right? I’ve been plowing my way through a bunch of them lately…Elin Hilderbrand’s The Rumor and, just recently, Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale. Wow. While not an uplifting story, it completely blew me away. A very intense but moving story. Okay, I’m going to stop there since I don’t want to give anything away. But go read (or, in my case, listen) to it. You won’t be sorry. I’ve now moved on to a much lighter book, The Primates of Park Avenue, which is hysterical.
>>So I’ve never been much of a salty, chips type of person (now baked goods and chocolate, on the other hand, are a different story) but I am obsessed with these crunchy treats from Simply 7 Snacks: quinoa chips, lentil chips, and hummus chips.The awesome folks there sent me a box of different varieties to try and I’ve honestly been pleased with all of them (my personal fave? The cheddar cheese quinoa chips). Not only are they made from simply, natural products, but they are chock full of protein! A single serving of 20 chips is less than 200 calories and has 9 grams of protein. You can click here to see if they’re sold near you.
>>A friend introduced me to a Pilates series on the Athleta website and said it was amazing: 5 minutes and you’re done. And each day, there’s a different focus — abs, booty, upper body, etc. I was skeptical about the 5 minute part, but when she said she saw a difference in only a week, I was on board! I’ve been doing the abs workouts only for about a week, and while I don’t know if I see any noticeable difference, I do feel stronger! And given my upcoming trip to Portland, Oregon for work (I leave Aug. 30), it is so nice to have a quick workout I can do in my hotel room.
Okay, that’s it for now, friends! I’ll be posting photos — and maybe I’ll even attempt my first Periscope video (you can follow me @sanemommy) — from our Great Wolf Lodge adventures this weekend, so follow along. Otherwise, enjoy your weekend and I’ll catch up with you next week!