New Lily

Pear Spice Oatmeal…A Fall Favorite!

IMG_7014

Here is wonderful recipe from one of my favorite food blogs, Recipes Remembered....

Oatmeal is a year round breakfast for me, but I especially love it on the cooler days of fall and winter…a perfect comfort food!

Happy Fall, friends.  It’s time for spice, for apples & pears, crisp mornings, boots & comfy sweaters, marathons and so many other lovely – and delicious – things.  This oatmeal is one of the delicious things.  It’s a base of fall spices – cinnamon, nutmeg & cloves – topped with deliciously sweet pears, pecans for crunch and a little drizzle of milk.  I’m a little sad to see summer go but if I can look forward to breakfasts like this one then I think I’ll be ok. [Read more…]

Fall 5Ks are Great Family Fun!

DSC_0031

My husband snapped this picture of us after the 5K last Saturday…there are seven of us (#5 is cut off – but is also smiling)…

Last weekend my family did the Big South 5K in Charlotte.  Well, not the whole family.  #1, #2, and #3 are not home, and my husband and #9 (Sam – who is 4) didn’t run but came to cheer the rest of us on.  I ran with #7 (C.C.) who is 8.  She was trying to break 27:50 which was her last 5K time.  We came in a little over that at 28.30 but I was impressed with her mighty effort! She never stopped to walk except to get water.  By the last 1/2  mile she was tired and I asked her if she wanted to walk a little. But then as she recognized her surroundings and knew it wasn’t too far to finish…she got a second wind! [Read more…]

It’s Time To Start a Food Journal Again

notebook1214280302vVPF0YIt has been gradual. It has been subtle. It has gone unnoticed.  But it has finally caught up to me.  It is now apparent… I can’t keep eating like this. It is time to start writing it all down again.  A few years ago, when I first started my 9 Kid Fitness website, I decided I needed to invest in my diet and I hired an online nutritionist to help me get back on track.  It wasn’t that I was a junk foodie.  In fact, I have always prided myself on my self-control. However, I wanted to see what I could do to feel better and to perform better. I knew that my nutrition could be improved, but I wasn’t exactly sure how.

Unfortunately, I would not recommend an online nutritionist unless you know exactly what you are getting for your money, and I didn’t get much help in the end.  The one thing I did learn through the process was the benefit of a food journal.  I wrote down what I ate for five days in a row. For the first few days, I tried to eat well, so that I could write down only healthy foods.  But then I realized how silly that was since I was paying someone to help me and I wasn’t being honest with myself. So I told myself not think about the journal. Just to remember to write down what I ate.  After all, who was I trying to fool? I decided if I wanted to make even small changes, I had to be honest.   [Read more…]

Music and Miles…a Sublime Run

A sublime run on the trail... Today I chose to "plug in", and it was worth it!

A sublime run on the trail… Today I chose to “plug in”, and it was worth it!

I have been suffering from a lack of motivation lately, so this morning I wasn’t expecting much.  #4 (Peter) was meeting a friend for a long run (11 miles) on the trail so I decided to come along and run on my own. It’s been a while since I have run long alone (I went 10), so I took my phone and some headphones to keep me company.  I ran the first three with #6 (Grace) who was only running six, and then said goodbye, turned on the iphone music, and kept going. [Read more…]