Tell me no!

I just got an email that piques my interest. It's about a marathon. 

A midnight marathon.

In Audubon Park.

It's free.

And it's this Sunday!

I absolutely want to run 13 loops around Audubon in the middle of the night. I really do! But I think that may be a bad idea since I'm totally untrained and I'm still (supposed) to be on a 3 miles, 3 times a week running limit (I'm not, though, 'cause I'm terrible at following directions). 

(At this point, pretend I have a beautiful picture of the park at night. I don't, because the only one I liked was on Shutterfly for sale for real money I don't have.)

But boy, do I want to do it. 

I'm off work Monday, now that I have a crazy awesome job with holidays off, so that's no problem. 

What should I do?

Nobody died

My brother in law actually let us keep these two for a day and nobody died.

In fact, they were mostly happy.

Probably because Uncle David kept feeding them peaches all day.

Hey, whatever works.

The sling-back dilemma: solved!

Feeling brave today, ladies? (Male readers: this will be of no interest to you whatsoever. Just go away until tomorrow and I'll put something normal up.)
Here's how you can solve that miserable situation of the too-loose slingback. Whenever I wear a sling back, the strap is far too large although the rest of the shoe fits. If that's your problem too, here's an easy fix. And you get to play cobbler!
You need:
Sewing supplies - a thimble, thread (preferably upholstery), needle, seam ripper, and scissors
Glue: either Shoe Goo or a similar epoxy
So. Start with adorable shoes

Got these at Buffalo Exchange for free after trade!

.
Get really brave. Feel along the strap to where the elastic stops. Cut the strap.

Use seam ripper and scissors to remove piece of strap from elastic. You can cut the end of the elastic into a point.

Trim some of the strap if needed. Use the seam ripper to help open up the strap, like so.

Spread the insides with glue, insert elastic, close tightly, and clamp with a clothespin or your fingers for several minutes. Let dry.

Starting to sew...

 To reinforce, sew around edges. Be very careful and use a thimble - needles are hard to push through tough leather or its fake, cheap cousin. After tying off the thread, smear the area on the back with a little more glue to make sure the thread ends are secure.

Ugly smeary back

 I didn't do a fantastic job here, and the glue shows. But seriously, who could see that from a standing height? Except two year olds, who don't care anyway?

Those aren't cankles! It's just the angle, I swear!

Repeat with the other shoe.
Hints: fabric straps and cheaper shoes are easier to work with and you can even use a sewing machine.
Hide your thread ends on the back. You can be a little messy - but get some good, strong stitches in - on the back of the strap.

I actually did sweat my thorns off.

Time: 4 pm
Temps: 91, with 82% humidity...actually not bad compared to the rest of this week.
Results: 21:37 and my thorns are gone. 
I had forgotten all about this guy's boring 5k, and blithely went to spin class Saturday morning...only to be greeted by multiple virtual race reports when I got home. There was nothing for it but to go out and run a 5k. In order to make sure I sweat my thorns off, I waited until 4 pm, when it was over 90 degrees,  before I hit the park.
Now this was kind of a big deal, because I was all pretty and dressed up when I realized I had to do this run, and I had to do the dreaded re-shower. I hate getting clean hair dirty, so this was a major sacrifice. But I didn't want to drop out.

I was actually dressed and showered and everything and I STILL went out to run!

And you can't tell because I'm a sucky photographer, but I actually put eye make-up on! Yet still, I forsook all to go for a run!

After I sweat it out for 3 miles, I didn't look so collected.

Drenched.

So much for make-up and clean hair!

This was actually my first timed run in a long time - the last one was May 27, for the Greek Fest 5k! I should confess that this is "cheat" time because I stopped my time twice to wait for traffic when crossing St. Charles Ave.  Still wasn't fantastic time. And the sad thing is... I felt like this was enormous effort. In fact I started at a 7:30 pace and I absolutely thought is was 7:00's. I was disgusted that I was nowhere near! I guess I have a lot of work to do.

I'm outta shape.
 

Starstruck!

Can you believe it?
Tomie DePaola was signing books in my neighborhood!
Although he's a children's author, I love his artwork and his story lines. He's one of my favorite writers of any genre and I couldn't pass up a chance to meet him - so I raced home from a birthday party to get there in time. Isn't he precious?

I'm bending over because I'm actually double his height.

Watch out for the chicken feet in your soup!<-- if you don't get that, get thee to the library and read the book by this name!

Want to lose weight? Eat nuts.

Today I read this interesting study:

"Potato chips may be the most dangerous food for your hips, according to a study that lays out weight-associated foods by the pound.

Roughly half of the average 3.35 pounds a healthy, nonobese American gains over four years could be chalked up to eating more potato chips over time (1.69 lb per additional serving per day), Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, DrPH, of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Schools of Medicine and Public Health, and colleagues found.

Other food strongly associated with weight gain in the prospective longitudinal results reported in the June 23 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine included:

• Potatoes at 1.28 lb
• Sugar-sweetened beverages at 1.00 lb
• Unprocessed red meats at 0.95 lb
• Processed meats at 0.93 lb

Four-year weight loss was most associated with intake of:

• Yogurt at -0.82 lb
• Nuts at -0.57 lb
• Fruits at -0.49 lb
• Whole grains at -0.37 lb
• Vegetables at -0.22 lb

All the above values are per serving added per day to the diet over four years and all were significant at P≤0.005."
I'm not surprised by the list of foods associated with weight loss (vegetables, news flash!), but I am surprised at how high yogurt scored. That makes me think that there is a bacterial reason for weight loss - a concept that has been considered by scientists in the past few years. I am surprised that unprocessed red meat landed in the top foods for weight gain. I didn't think anything unprocessed would be in the list - but I suppose it's an example of too much of a good thing. We do eat an enormous amount of red meat - quarter pounder burgers, 16 ounce steaks, pot roast.

Thoughts? Did any of the foods listed here surprise you?

Primary source: New England Journal of Medicine
Source reference:
Mozaffarian D, et al "Changes in diet and lifestyle and long- term weight gain in women and men" N Engl J Med 2011; 364: 2392-2404.

Target success!

I bet it would make your day to see the deals I got at Target.
I'm happy to oblige!

AND another linoleum shot! Doesn't it bring you back?

So here we have the deals. On the outside is a cute little nightie I got for a friend who just had a baby. I think moms need pretty things after having babies...but they should also be loose and flowy for now! This was $9.95, not the best deal in the world, but since it was a gift I won't obsess over it. I'm soooo generous. In the middle is a pajama set I got for my sister, just because I think she looks good in olive. The pants were $3.21 and the top (which is really soft cotton) was $4.45. All the way to the right is a pair of high-waist, flare-leg, retro slacks for me. I don't adore them, but they were $6.24 so I bought them. I do like the thin (cool) fabric and the fact that they are different from any other pants I own.
On the bottom left is my biggest score: winter running tights marked all the way down to $1.99 from $21.99! Their only flaw is no key pocket, but my handy-dandy seamstress self is about to go add one to the waist band. I might do a tutorial on it!