Happy Friday Everyone!
One – Current Happenings
Happy Friday, friends! I hope you are all having a good start to the fall and October! This October, I was finally able to run an in person half marathon! This was my 15th half marathon that I’ve done. I ran the Chicago Marathon in 2017 and then took a break from long distance running for a few years. When Covid hit, I decided to get back into running long distance, since it gave me an excuse to get outside for some fresh air. I’ve done two ‘virtual’ half marathons since Covid, but this was my first in person half marathon in YEARS! I must say, after taking such a long break from running, it felt like an entire brand new experience to me!
Here is my race medal, this half marathon was in St. Charles, MO and it is called the MO’ Cowbell. This was my second time running it. My best half marathon time ever was 2:06 (I’d love to do a sub 2:00 half marathon someday!!), but I finished this half marathon at a 10:36 pace at 2:18:50! I felt SO good during the first 9 miles of this race, I was doing a 9-9:30 pace and then a mile and a half long hill came up along with the SUN and I started to slow down. However, I am really, really proud of how well I did and it gives me something to work on for my NEXT half marathon! Yep, I’ve already signed up for a Spring half marathon!!
The day before the race, we had to travel to St. Charles to pick up my race packet. St. Charles is just outside St. Louis and about 35 minutes from our house. Brian and the kids came with me and we decided to eat at one of the restaurants off Main Street in St. Charles. Magpies is a cute little sandwich and salad restaurant with some delicious appetizers, drinks and homemade desserts. They have a really nice patio to sit out on, but it was raining off and on the day we visited.
For lunch I got a hot apple cider (it was not spiked, but you could get alcohol in it if you wanted) and their Trio of Dips appetizer, which was SO good. The dips were Hummus, Artichoke Butter and Feisty Feta with lots of dippers.
Main Street in St. Charles is a historic district with cobblestone streets and lots of quaint shops/boutiques offering antiques, clothing, food/candy, home decor and lots of family owned restaurants.
Autumn had a day off school, so we went to the mall! I got a cute photo of her in front of this photo wall. She let me go into one of my favorite stores (American Eagle) and I brought home this pumpkin spice colored chunky knit sweater.
Two – Fall Lunch Idea
I try to make lunch easy yet healthy for myself, so I usually make the same thing for lunch 6 days in a row and then I change it up for the next week. One lunch that I make for myself one week of every month is this Healthy Charcuterie Board for One. I usually do some chickpea crackers with Laughing Cow light spreadable cheese, cashews, dried chickpeas, a cup of fruit/berries, a cup of veggies, olives and then a protein shake. It is so delicious! I had a couple of other blogger friends decide to mimic my Charcuterie for One lunch and one of them sent me a photo (TidyMom, who also lives in St. Louis!). She found some really cute grapes to hers that I can’t seem to find in the grocer by me!
Three – Day Date On Our Wedding Anniversary!
Brian and I celebrated 9 years of major on October 6th and he took off the day from work to spend it with me! Awhh! We decided to check out the new City Foundry in St. Louis and it did not disappoint. It was like a food court for adults, with different restaurants/food stations that each had a signature drink, dish and some had appetizers and desserts. It was really hard to pick, so we kind of sampled from several of the food stations!
I was excited to find a place that had bubble teas! And, I got a tofu poke bowl with crab salad on top for my main meal.
Then, for dessert I got a loaded waffle! It was SO good!
When we got home, I was surprised with a beautiful fall bouquet from Brian. And, I got a mini pumpkin cheesecake to go from the City Foundry and it hit the spot!
Four – Latest Book & Shows
No books to report, but I’m slowly trying to finish my last summer read, People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry. Agh! I haven’t had much time at all to read lately!! I really need to finish this book!
And, as for shows…
We finished the second season of Virgin River (so good!) and we are almost done with Firefly Lane (which I read the book to AGES ago!).
My new favorite podcast is The Bestie Breakdown, which has my favorite blogger Shay in it and one of her good friends. It is just two best friends that talk about all the things and sometimes their husbands get on, too. I usually listen to this podcast when I’m putting away laundry or I’m sitting in the carpool line.
Five – Pixi Face Masks
Shop These Items:
Pixi surprised me with another great package! Inside was three of their face masks! They sent me their Rose, Milky and Vitamin-C Remedy Masks in this package. Each of these face masks does something a little different, so you can mix and match them on different areas of your face. How cool is that?
I hope everyone has a nice and relaxing weekend!
