No idle hands at this house

This weekend, in pictures and thoughts:

The run:

I didn’t take pictures of everything, of course. I didn’t photograph me waking up at 4:30 a.m. just to get my run in because I knew I had a busy day ahead. I was home before the sun came up, so it would have been a picture of darkness anyway. But I did run 7 miles, without taking a walk break or a water break! I am so proud of myself!

I did a warm-up workout and a cool down workout. It was so worth it. Lots of good stretching. I highly recommend it.

Then I had to hurry and shower and get ready because I had a triathlon to get to!

The race:

Not my triathlon, of course (otherwise, why would I run 7 miles beforehand?) Kevin’s Cane Creek Park race, which happened to be one week after he participated in the Blue Ridge Relay. While the rest of his teammates are still at home nursing their sore legs, he’s tearing it up on the race course. Good for him! He did a great job. And I got to see my nieces, Jenn, and my parents, which was an awesome bonus.

Then it was breakfast at a diner in Waxhaw, which I realized is only 12 miles from my house – I could so run there! And I will, at some point.

The deadline

Then I worked. I had a magazine to send to press on Saturday, and I spent the afternoon putting together the final touches and doing pre-press. Here are a couple of the layouts for you to preview. You’ll have to check out Natural Awakenings on Oct. 1 to read the stories, though! In the meantime, September’s magazine had some great stuff if you haven’t seen it yet.

The after-deadline party

I soooo wanted to go out and celebrate. But the day took its toll on me so the after-deadline party ended up consisting of me cleaning the house a little bit and then chilling with the TV before crashing out. I’m lame, I know.

The photo shoot

Sunday consisted of a lot more cleaning (it doesn’t really get done when I’m on a big deadline, so by the time deadline is over I’m usually of the “I can’t stand to be in this house for one more minute” mentality. In between the cleaning was a photo shoot of my nieces! Jeff took the pictures, but I got to build a fort with Mia and help her pose (when she would let me) and give her a first taste of soy milk (which she pronounced was “yum!”) Here is a preview of the shoot:

Mia is wearing a dress that Jenn wore as a 3-year-old, and Jenn’s mom wore as a 3-year-old, and Jenn’s grandmother wore as a 3-year-old. And I swear, it looks brand-new. No wear at all. It’s beautiful.

After the shoot was over, more cleaning and a quick break to Big Daddy’s Burger Bar in Ballantyne. Hands-down, the best burger I’ve had in Ballantyne. It was awesome. The service was great. The food was great. The icing on the cake? When they brought a round of free beers because a kids’ soccer team showed up and took over the patio where we were sitting. But the kids were quietly misbehaving in the corner, so it wasn’t even annoying!

Weekend was so busy that the grocery store trip happened at 10 p.m. But that’s ok – it all got done, and it was a great, great weekend!