The All American Dream

Two children, two dogs, a beautiful house in the suburbs, a life filled with God, and never ending smiles...to me, this is my version of the "All American Dream."  Spending this past weekend with my best friend Jennie and her family gave me that glimpse into that ever faceted dream, but also into the work and dedication it takes to not only keep yourself happy and healthy, but your family as well.

I must start this off by saying there were THREE adults in the house all weekend and only two children (ages 4 and 7) and two dogs and I'm left exhausted!!  I give so much credit to parents because I can't even imagine just how much there is to do on a daily basis and yet still manage to keep everyone happy, healthy and safe.  Saturday morning I was fortunate to sneak away for a two mile run through the beautiful Virginia neighborhood that they live in with one of their dogs.  I'm pretty sure he is happy to see me leave Virginia as about 1.5 miles into the run, he decided he wanted no part in it anymore and  would retire to laying in front of the cherry blossom trees.

Following our run, the remainder of the day was spent at sporting events with the kids.  Cheering their daughter along at her soccer game made me realize just how much I miss both coaching and playing.  Nothing is better than soccer shorts, a jersey and a soccer ponytail on a warm and sunny Saturday afternoon.  Post soccer was their son's basketball game and another hour or so spent cheering him on from the bleachers and watching his excitement as he dribbled down the court.  

After all of the official sports games were over, we went home and enjoyed an amazing evening in their neighborhood.  Their son (whom I consider my nephew) learned to ride his bike without training wheels!!  To witness that truly made my weekend and brought that innocent smile back to my face as much as it did his!  He was soooo excited and didn't want to stop so we all walked/rode around the neighborhood until the sun went down.  

We all woke up this morning and had quite the fitness focused start to the day.  From simon says workouts around the block, to another bike ride, a basketball game and chasing bubbles...we ran around and laughed until it was time for me to leave.  It was an incredible weekend spent with people who I consider family and one that brought me so much joy and happiness.  

Jennie and I spoke about how I was going to write this post before I left and about what I took away from this weekend and just how much it brought back into my life both spiritually and emotionally.  The All American Dream is different for all of us...for me it's what I witnessed this weekend but for others it's very different.  We all have our own version of what makes us happy, but the ultimate takeaway is that if you're so busy trying to achieve that "All American Dream" you forget to live in the moment and you lose sight of what's in front of you.  I might be one of the worst at doing this.  I'm constantly looking in the future at what I "want" but truthfully I'm missing what I should be THANKFUL for today!  

So this weekend I may have had 48 hours of living my "dream" but ultimately I learned how thankful I am to have friends/family that make saying goodbye so hard! Miss you all already!!

xoxo

Love, 

"Auntie Heather"

The Early Bird Gets The Worm

It's 4:30am and my alarm goes off.  I lean over and hit snooze because my goodness my alarm is the most ANNOYING sounding noise there is.  10 minutes later...off it goes again.  Now I know I have to make a decision.  I either get up and accomplish the goal I set forth for the day or I enjoy my comfortable blankets, ocean sound noise machine, and cool breeze from the ceiling fan.  For all of you that know me...getting up at 4:40am is not an easy feat to accomplish with zero motivation from anyone other than my own personal guilt trip.  But there you have it...4:41am and both feet were on the floor and ready to go before I could convince myself otherwise!!

Two bottles of water, a quick homemade protein shake, trail running shoes and headphones and I was out the door and in my car for the 1hr drive south to Manitou Springs.  One of my goals this year was to do the Manitou Springs incline weekly to try and get down to a 30 minute climb to the top.  Well, when the remainder of the week is being spent traveling, my only option was to wake up early today and get it done.  

A quick stop at Starbucks for a much needed caffeine buzz and I was on my way.  In typical Heather fashion, nothing is ever easy and uneventful.  My goal was to be in Manitou Springs and halfway up the incline by 6:33am...today's official sunrise to catch a gorgeous picture and truly enjoy the peacefulness of being up early and amongst nature.  But no.  Three miles before the parking lot for the incline, there were blue lights in my rearview mirror.  Not only was I speeding (39mph in a 30mph zone), but coming from NYC I didn't have my registration ("Officer, in NY we have it on our windshield.  I'm sorry but I definitely don't have it in my car").   And if that wasn't bad enough, I also didn't have an insurance card.  As I offered to pull up my Geico account on my phone, he told me not to worry he could pull everything up with my license (which of course had an incorrect address).  One would think, with all of that on top of the speeding, I'd drive away with a pretty hefty ticket, but no, I received his business card instead and was told to have a good day!!  Thank you Officer for letting me off the hook this time!

Needless to say, by the time I reached the incline I was ready to go.  With my cardio hip hop pandora station playing, I conquered the 1 mile distance and over 2,000 feet in elevation gain all in 38:35 (1 minute and 15 seconds faster than my PR)!  Not too shabby for an early morning start.  The view at the top was nothing less than incredible and totally worth my heavy breathing and sore legs!

After a 2.5 mile trail run down to the base, I was back at my car and on my way home...all before 8am!!  Driving back home, I realized just how grateful I am to live where I do and have access to the things that I do.  Getting up at 4:30am is much easier when the rewards are as high as they are!  Be it a beautiful view, loss of pounds on the scale or simply the satisfaction of knowing that you accomplished something when others were still sleeping gives you such an endorphin high and motivation to keep moving throughout the day!!