Long Beach 1/2 Marathon

My friend and I are going to sign up for the Long Beach 1/2 marathon in October of this year. Training slowly started last week. The schedule is called "walk to run training." I can't remember the last time I ran lol. This is going to be crazy, but good to have a goal as Ken and I start our new "active stage of life." In high school I joined the cross country team because I had a crush on a guy the summer after my freshman year. He ended up dropping out, but I was stuck on the girls team because we just had a enough girls to qualify. I swore I would never do something so drastic for a guy again lol. Ken on the other-hand was an avid high school runner. He even broke his shin and finished a race! I remember the nerves at the starting point, the rounding a bend and not believing there was still 2 miles to go! But here I am again, reminded of the crazy nerves, looking forward to accomplishing something great, but nervous as all get out. Wish me luck! More updates to come...

A Thought on Love

So I have a confession to make: I have been watching the Bachelorette show lol (call it my guilty pleasure - I only admit that I watch it to a select few, but it is fun :). Along the way, in their silly facades of love and infatuation, I came across something deep. If you have watched this season at all, you are probably familiar with one of the contestants, Ames (the ivy league school grad/awkward in an endearing sort of way, who just wanted to be loved). Anyway, he mentioned a word, an idea in one of his interactions with Ashley (the bachelorette, season 7) and that word is Sprezzatura. It is an Italian word, and according to his definition - it is living life romantically in the ordinary, which ultimately becomes a life lived extraordinarily with love. The dictionary in further research defined it as “studied nonchalance: Perfect conduct or performance of something (as an artistic endeavor) without apparent effort." This challeneged me. During this last year, things have been financially tight as I have tried to find a job. Often during stressful moments and financially tight times, romance is thrown out like a baby with the bathwater (so to speak). Ken and I, moved by this idea found on the Bachelorette (of all places lol), have decided to try and live life more romantically; intentionally in the little things, to communicate love and connect through the difficult times, and through the ordinary humdrum of life.