a life beyond running shoes.

i will finish the year with my last books read.... over the last month or so.  i have not even sat down to write my xmas letter and yet i post about my final reads....  happy 2013! global girlfriends: how one mom made it her business to help women poverty by stacey edgar what a fun and amazing story about a woman who started with a vision to do something about poverty among women around the world. check our her website: www.globalgirlfriends.com  making peace with the land by fred bahnson and norman wirzba a scholor and a practision discussing the biblical merits of working for the good and steward of the land. adoption without debt. by julie gumm. practical and inspiring of how it can be done. for reals. eat and run. by scott jurek carnivore turned vegan while pursing the dream of being/becoming an ultra runner. the hobbit . by jrr tolkien i re-read it so i could go see the movie.... i opted to spend my one movie date a year on les mis .  g...

we had a great thanksgiving with my mother-in-law in town.  we visited "the city" on the best weather day of  her visit.  we feasted with friends and had my new niece come visit.  we took her to a local brewery. i also trained and ran my first half marathon on this coast.  i got  my personal best time!!! 2:10 guess all that backyard circuit training we are doing really might be making a me a stronger runner.  and of course threw in some advent wreath making!!  merry christmas!!!

(by the way those are two ninjas and one rapunzel) the day was full, full, full. each boy had a party in his classroom - which sweet pea and i attended both.  then had a parade at school. than trick-or-treating.... that ended in rain.  phew.  and now the battle over candy.  yipee!!!

in the midst of coming off of vacation and looking forward into the holiday season... i hunkered down with a few books to pass the time.   i will admit that i actually let my children watch just a bit too much tv while i was reading one of these. kitchen counter cooking school. by kathleen flynn. oh how i loved this one.  all these lovely women learning how to cook, use a knife, cut up a chicken.....learning about healthy options that don't cost too much.  and oh how i wish i had been in this class. to be on the journey of exploring food and cooking skills along others.... i was envious.  what a quick but fun read. it also includes recipes for simple things....like vinaigrettes.   i loved it...and have to thank my sister-in-law who recommended it to me over a year ago.  thanks, tiff! tiger in red weather . by liza klaussmann. well.....it was a bit 'gatsby' for me.  too indulgent, too long island, too much despair.  AND then there wa...

we got to really celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.  sunrise. dinner at sunset. hiking.  shaved ice (aka snow cones) while watching surfing. more sunrises. snorkeling. despite the one day meeting that husband had (like the obligatory timeshare meeting that you have to sit through in order to get to stay there), we had an amazing time!! this was my first time snorkeling and i LOVED it!!! one of my highlights was running on the beach with hubbie.  funny how it takes vacation for us to see this activity as a luxury. it was amazing to finally get some nights away from kids and enjoy just having time together. thank you friends and family that helped make this happen!!! maybe it won't take over six years for us to do it again! and i read two books:   the weird sisters  by eleanor brown   and eddie would go by stuart holmes coleman:  one a novel threading shakespeare quotes through a story about sister all with fata...

well soccer season is under way.  an opening day and two games and we are in full swing.  opening day consists of kids in the back of pick-ups riding down main street (we don't actually have a main street but it might as well be called that).  it is a lot of whoop-la. i had a bad attitude. apparently it is enjoyed by many.... but not this mom. go rockets!!! go comets!!! little bit was dyno-mite on the feild. he got out there and tore it up.  can't say that there is any resemblance to the kid that played last year.  i am not sure where he went but  apparently he was replaced by a soccer player!! and here is peanut in the goal.  more pics of him to come!!   happy fall.

inkheart . by cornelia funke. same author as the thief lord .  the essence of magic realism. so know going in there is a suspension of disbelief that i enjoy.... there is a clear bad guy. interesting good guy. daughter. interesting secondary characters. lot of books. italy. all for a fun and enjoyable read.  there is a mystery that unfolds as you read about these characters.  i am  not sure i  know what else to say other than that i enjoyed it. it was also a good balance to the other things i had been reading. perhaps i enjoy a bit of escapism now and then.  i finally finished the percy jackson series.... the last one being the last olympian . i have to admit i enjoyed them.  of course, i was not reading them as a mom who will one day have a teenage son (or two).... so the attitude or angst was not annoying to me as a reader.  i was along for the ride of king kronos engaging in a war with the half-blood children of the gods of olympus. ...

i am not sure i even know where to begin. i think i am changed. i don't think i can go backwards. i think i am on a journey..... one that god is working and unfolding. i am pretty sure he has been working on these things for more than just this summer, in fact for years, but i think the books i encountered this summer are part of moving us forward and moving us deeper.  hubbie and i have always had this heart but i realized we have been okay just saying that we could not do it "right now."  i repent. i have been lazy. i have had a hard heart.  my heart does not look like jesus. it is not okay.  i have to move toward jesus and toward others.  he is calling me to himself.....  freedom of simplicity . by richard fotster. he takes the other two books from previous post and grounds them. he completely argues that simplicity is a spiritual issue.  it is a spiritual maturity issue.  it something to be cultivated, practiced, exercised.  i k...

we went into the mission district for a sabbath outing.  we played on a playground, kicked the soccer ball, saw a tightrope walker, ate vietnamese food, had great company, and saw a naked man (peanut asked if it was because he was poor....nope, just san francisco)..... all in a day's adventure out of marin. 

i have to admit.... i didn't think it would be the oakland a's. but the kids had a ball!!! peanut was upset when we left for an inning to go buy hats!  and it was a crazy game.... 22 runs. it will be a shame when they go to another game and there aren't as many hits! showing off our new hats!!!

i am working backwards.... we got to leave town for a few days before school started just the five of us.  this does not happen often since we live far from family, we usually take our vacation time to travel to them.  we always love it but don't often get time as a family of five. we got to head north to the coast. mendocino. hiking, walking, eating, bike riding, beach exploring, tide pools, tadpoles, baby frogs, wine, and reading.  wonderful...... and delightful.  we are so thankful that we are loved so generously.  we are thankful to have enjoyed our children.

yup....summer is over. school has started.  i have two in school....one at home. and in case you can't tell, that happens to be one red buccaneers backpack and one blue & orange gator backpack. you can take the dad out of florida but you can't seem to keep him from making his kids florida fans.  sigh. also, note the sweatshirts. it was 55 degrees when we left for school.  again....sigh. it does warm up but it is strange for august....at least for me it is.

almost amish by nancy sleeth (one woman's quest for a slower, simpler, more sustainable life) does that sound right up my alley or what?! it was.  she takes a look at a community that has be able to stay connected to each other while remaining somewhat "out of touch" with modern culture. sleeth a makes the case that current american culture [and even modern church culture] are the ones that are out of touch not the amish.  sleeth takes ten tenants of amish culture and in a way deconstructs it, finds the merit, and challenges her reader to see what they have that we don't.  her ten things: home, technology, finances, nature, simplicity, service, security, community, families, and faith.  the ones that i really loved:  homes - aren't cluttered. technology - serves as a tool and does not rule. [i have stopped checking my cell phone or email on sundays....so mom, call my home phone] finances - save more and spend less.  simplicity - small and local lea...

lost in a good book by jasper fforde sequel. meta-fiction....not sure i know what that means. having just read a jane eyre book, i went back to this author whose first book was the eyre affair .  he transposed reality and fiction.... well, it is all fiction but includes time travel, adventure, extinct animals, fictional characters interacting with the characters of the novel.....and a character called jack schitt.  funny.  it is entertaining. i realized i had to let go of trying to figure out the time looping stuff and just ride the book for what it was worth. since i own the third book in the series, i might give it a go but wouldn't if it wasn't already on my shelf.  yes, chef   by marcus samuelsson can i fall in love with food any more.... yes, yes, i can.  ethiopian orphan, adopted in sweden, world travelled via the kitchen of restaurants, hotels, and cruise ships and immigrated to new york city where he was one of the first black chefs in...