I'm ranting

Since joining Pinterest, I've seen a lot of these floating around:

Posters showing some half naked woman with unbelievable ab-definition, with an inspirational quote about working out and being healthy. Usually, they're pretty harmless, but every once in a while, I come across one that is horrible. They use guilt and shame to motivate. And I hate them.
I understand that there are many people who are wanting to get in shape and may need something to get them going. But there is a difference between motivation and abuse. I don't think that self-hate is the way to go to get healthy; it only leads to problems. We all have our insecurities, but focusing only on them is a sure way to make us miserable. 
I think that as women, there is more pressure to look a certain way, wear a certain thing, weigh a certain amount. There are the supermodels, the actresses, and magazine covers to compare ourselves to. And when we don't add up, we sometimes obsess about it. I've been guilty of this myself. There was a time in my life that my self-esteem was so low that I couldn't look in the mirror and see anything I liked. I was so terribly unhappy. My low self-esteem was caused by some choices that I'd made, but instead of fixing my problems, my mind was transfixed on negatives. It wasn't until I started remembering what was good about me, that I started being happy again.
I think we sometimes need to remember that we are daughters of God. We are not, and will not be perfect anytime soon, but we all have beauty and worth. Being healthy is important, but being happy is part of that. The best kind of motivation is a good attitude. 

Guys, I love this show

I'm glad the new season started.



I think it's my favorite show on TV.

let's go!

Over the weekend, I had a dream that Ron Weasley was installing a pool in my backyard. I've contemplated this a lot, and I've come to a conclusion.
It obviously means that I need to take a vacation and go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal in Orlando.
Think about it. Ron Weasley clearly means Harry Potter, and the pool means near the ocean.
Orlando is near the ocean.
Harry Potter in Orlando.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

I'll start packing my bags.

Color Run

The Color Run was awesome!

We woke up early and met Carrie, and went to the race site. There were about 10,000 people there, so we decided on a point to meet at when we all finished. And away we went!

The before:

Our shirts say "Can you run with all the colors of the wind?" Because we are cool.

Because there were so many people, they had several different start times. They would let about a thousand people onto the course every 10 minutes, so we didn't actually start running till about 8:40. There were "color stations" set up every so often, where volunteers would chuck colored powder onto us as you ran by. You could choose to have more color, or less. We opted for more.

The after.

After the race, there was a color throw by all the runners. We were all given packets of color that we could toss whenever we wanted, but most people waited until the color throw. Here's a video:

Carrie and I were right in the middle of that, and got a couple of lungfuls of color powder. But we aren't dead yet, so it must be safe! 

We headed over to our designated meeting spot and found Sherrie and Randy, but when we walked right up to Sherrie and said hello, she looked at us like we were nuts. She didn't recognize us haha! 

I don't understand why.

We look totally normal.

We headed home to wash after that. Carrie and I both scrubbed in the shower for a while before getting out, and still had color on us in spots. But it's starting to fade now.

We had so much fun! I want it do this again next year!

Have a colorful week!

i'm tooting my own horn

Haha. I said toot.
Can you tell I spend my days with a 3 year old?

Anyways.

Guess what I just did! I just went to the high school track and ran 3.1 miles without stopping! That's a 5k folks!
The Color Run is this saturday, and I've been jogging a few times here and there, but not as much as I would have hoped. I was beginning to worry that I wouldn't be able to make it without stopping to walk a lot, which is a problem. You see, my Carrie-sister and I ran a lot in high school, and though we weren't very fast, we always finished and we never walked during a race. I told Carrie that I may be walking during this race, and felt really bad that I was going to ruin our record.
So I went to the track to see how far I could go. And I ran. And ran. Aaaand ran. And I did it! It hurt so bad, and it was pretty slow, but I did it.

I think I sometimes don't give myself enough credit.
I'm pretty awesome!

Toot.

yes!

A few days ago, Portia wanted to watch a movie. I asked her what she wanted to watch, and she answered "Harry Potter."

Ladies and gentlemen, I will be giving classes on how to properly raise your children starting next Tuesday.

But really, in all seriousness, how awesome is my kid?

2 things

Margot really loves peaches

And this is what Portia looks like when she wakes up from her naps.