Birthday Surprise


Today is my sweet girl’s Birthday.  I can not even believe she is 12 years old today. It seems like she should only be 5 or 6.  And still at 12, I don’t feel like I’ve had her long enough.


We are SO thankful that Baylee is still here with us because last year at this time it wasn’t looking too good for her.  At 12 years old, her health is not perfect, but we are managing it the best we can and hoping we are giving her the best life a lab could ask for.  My goal for this year was to have a Shutterfly book made of pictures of her but I tell ya that darn Shutterfly makes things so complicated that I get frustrated. So yea, that did not happen yet. Maybe I can make one as a Christmas present for myself? 


               Today after work I took her to the pet store and we picked out her birthday treat


                                                           As you can see she enjoyed her treat! 

                                                   Here's to 12 more years with this precious dog!

Sweet Goals...Do you have them?




I did very little running in November. Actually I only did two runs and if I'm lucky, I'll top the month off with 3 runs if I do one this week. However, I have been trying to work on something else this month.



Every year it seems that I have the same “intention” to cut back on the sugar.  I’ll be the first to admit that I never pass up a bag of Sour Patch Kids, Sugar Cookies, or a Cupcake.  However, I go in with good intentions but the end result is always the same. I don’t do anything differently.

 My GOAL ( Yes, I am finally calling it a goal instead of an “intention” because I feel like it is something I am going to chart my progress on), is to go seven days straight without any of the following: Cookies, Candy, Cakes, Cupcakes, whoopee pies, fudge, pie, and donuts. The donuts should be easy because I’m not a fan of donuts anyway but I feel like it should be included! I don’t have the strength to cut out Frappes yet though.  Baby steps!

I told my mom of my plan during one of our runs and she said it sounds good and something that she should be doing too, but she won’t start it until after the New Year. She said if she started it now that she would just be setting herself up for failure. There are just too many temptations coming up with the holidays and all.  I completely agree and during the Holidays I usually do cut myself some slack and let myself have ALL the holiday goodies because ya know, It’s only once a year when you get to have them ( Christmas Cookies and the holiday flavored Ghiradelli chocolates (my favorite are the peppermint bark and the egg nog).  But on the other hand I do feel like this is the perfect time to start cutting back. Why wait?  

So, I admit for the month of November I did not do too well.  I let myself have Ice cream cake for my sister's birthday (does that really count since the cake was made of ice cream and ice cream wasn't on my list?), had a Hershey Kiss from a co-worker, and some other sweet treats at work.  I was really good over Thanksgiving as I did not have any pie, pumpkin roll, or any other dessert.  I think I was able to go from this past Sunday to Saturday without any sweets! However, On Sunday of just this week I blew it because my sister offered me some Sour Patch Kids while on a road trip when we were stuck in traffic!  I will not succumb to this peer pressure any more! 

So I was only able to go one streak of 7 days with out any sweets this month. I'll try it again next month and see if I can do better. 

As I am writing this I am thinking maybe I should make my goal to go only five days and then I have the weekends to have a treat. But that sounds weak, doesn’t it?  -M


Do you think you could go seven days?  Do you have a sweet strategy for the Holidays?

                                                We are linking up with the gals from TOTR.

Weekly Wrap...November 26

         
 After about a month hiatus from running, I finally got back at it this week.

I ran Baltimore in October when it was still warm and then a Monster Mash 5K a week later, so this run last week was my first "Official" Fall run!


My sister brought me this shirt back from the Chicago Marathon last year and believe it or not this was the first time I wore it! The short sleeves were just perfect for the weather!



I haven't been on this trail in a while so for some reason I was a little frightened. I don't know why because I've run this trail hundreds of times before but I guess it just felt "spookier" now that it is fall.

I ran with only one earbud in so I could stay alert!  I continued to take the path through the woods and every one I encountered looked suspicious to me (of course that was all in my head).   I saw people walking dogs, other runners, and people walking along the water but when I saw a random guy walking my way from another connecting path in the woods I got nervous.  We acknowledged each other with a quick "Hi" and then I picked up my speed so I could get far ahead of him. I didn't feel comfortable knowing he was behind me.  And then I thought "O darn, I'm gonna wear myself out  by running this fast and if someone attacks me I'm not going to have any energy left to fight back".  I don't know why I always think the worst when I run!  I was far enough ahead of the random guy and I never saw him again.




After that I slowed down and got in a comfortable pace. I enjoyed running on all the fallen leaves and hearing them crunch beneath my feet. Aww, this run just felt so refreshing!  Now I know why people love Fall Running!  At one point I almost lost my way (yes, on this trail I've run hundreds of times before) because the paths were all covered with leaves and I didn't know which way to turn to go on my normal route.   My Garmin died before I was done with my run, but because I know how far my usual route is, I know I ran over 3 miles.  For my first run in a month, I was very pleased.

Once again, I did not run a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving and its too bad too cus it was a beautiful day for one on. One of these years I'll run it!  It was a nice day on Saturday too so I got out for a little run then too.   Maybe this week I'll get back to running regularly so I feel prepared to run a Christmas race if I want to.  -M

Do you have a running route that seems "spookier" at certain times of  the year?

Thankfulness

Every year I am thankful for the usual stuff, My family, friends, health, job, etc. I am still extremely Thankful for all of that but in an effort to reflect on this year, I want to pick out a few things that stand out to make this year unique in its own right.

I know the year is not over yet so I am hoping I don't Jinx myself by mentioning these things too soon.

1. I have remained injury free all year! I have not had to run any races injured this year and it felt AMAZING!

2. Baylee's health. This one is HUGE guys. Last year at this time our vet didn't think she would even be here another year.  She is not with out issues but she is doing well and is a Happy dog!

3. The weather. I don't mind the heat so the sweltering summer felt great and the fall heat was just perfect. As we head into December we still have not hit really cold temps and that feels good!

4. New Races. This is the first year in 7 years that I did not run a Disney race and ya know what, I didn't miss it. I made a goal of running Big city races instead and got to cross 2 more cities of my list this year.

5. Family time. This is something I'm thankful for all the time but I appreciate the trips, the races, time spent boating, and just getting together with family on a Sunday afternoon.  We have a few more things planned for the rest of the year that I am looking forward to as well.

What is something unique to this year that you are Thankful for?


Who's Stealing Fairytales and Fitness?


After five years, I admit I’m not completely in love with our blog name. It’s true! But again, after five years it has kind of become a part of us and quite frankly changing it would be more of a hassle.  At the time we started the blog, the name seemed to fit.  We knew we were going to talk a lot about Disney and Disney races since that is where we got our start.  I didn’t want to pigeon hole us by putting Disney in our title (and I’m sure that would alienate some readers as well), but I did want it to have something to do with the magic of running at Disney.   So we came up with the term Fairytales.  This was kind of a spin on words too since I am a journalist by trade and of course fairytales are stories. I hope I am a good story teller.


 Also, we thought it could relate to traveling too since we both like to travel.  And of course fitness just kind of rolled off the tongue. Running was our main sport but again, why pigeon hole us.  And with that, Fairytales and Fitness was born.  

Of course we did our research and at the time, the only thing close to our name was called “A Fitness Fairytale” which I’m not even sure was an actual blog. I think it was more of a title of an online article that kept showing up. Now of course I see it is a Youtube channel, but back then I don’t think it was.

I then created social media pages for us including a Facebook page title Fairytales and Fitness, a twitter account and then later Instagram.  When I created twitter I could not get the handle @fairytalesandfitness because twitter told me the name was too long (too many characters).  I settled on @Fairytalesnfit. I did the same for IG.

This brings me to the other day,  I was playing around on Scott’s phone (like I usually do) because I wanted to see if his Newer phone did all the cool stuff my old phone does.

I wanted to see if his phone had the voice activated reader so I pulled up our blog.  As I went to do this, I saw a few other links for Fairytales and Fitness that did not belong to us. What???

I was now intrigued who these other Fairytales and Fitness imposters were.  One is a Youtuber and instead of Fairytales and fitness (which belongs to us) she is Fairytalesandfitness.  The other is an Instagramer @Fairytalesandfitness. This is the one that made me instantly furious because I tried to have that handle years ago when it did not belong to anyone and could not.  Of course I had to check out these folks’ other social media handles and nope, none of them are anything related to Fairytales and Fitness. So what is the connection for them? Why is it important for them to have OUR name?  Okay, Okay, I know I can’t actually call it our name since we don’t have a trademark on it or anything but it still bugs me because I feel like we put a lot of work into our brand.

Ever have an issue with your blog name or social media handles? Have you found some imposters?


Weekly Wrap....November 19



This week went by so fast. After running a Huge PR on Sunday I pretty much took most of the week off to recover, from running that is. I still had to teach all my group fitness classes.  



Monday morning I met some friends for a birthday brunch. 

Tuesday it was Spin class and Silver sneakers. After my classes I splurged on a Pumpkin Spice Donut at Duck Donuts.


 We were going to get one after our race because there was one right across from our hotel, but it had closed by the time we got there.  I have been craving one ever since the race. Luckily they have one in Virginia Beach. It is a donut shop that originated in Duck North Carolina that makes made to order donuts. When they are done, they are hot and so delicious. That evening I went to a foot spa and got a much needed massage. Afterwards, my friend was having a girl’s night to watch This Is Us. I never have seen the show but haven’t seen her in a while so decided to come by. Who can resist some girl time with wine and snacks?

Wednesday it was my friend’s birthday so I told him I would take him anywhere he wanted after I got done with class. Out of all the places and great local restaurants that are not chains to choose from, he wanted to go to Denny’s. He said he gets a free breakfast for his birthday. Well that’s fine by me. They do things official there, he had to show his ID and sign a paper.

Thursday I had to teach my Silver Sneakers class then had to go to get an oil change. I didn’t want to go all the way home between that so I went to the gym that was close to the garage just to shower.  I didn’t want to make it that obvious so I did get on the treadmill for ten minutes just to break a sweat.


I met a friend for sushi while I waited for my oil to get changed.

After taking all week off from running I decided to give it a try on Friday. My legs were feeling much better and I ended up running 10 miles at a very slow pace but felt good.  That evening I went to a local Seafood Restaurant that was going out of business and had dinner. I had recently gotten a gift card for there and I wanted to make sure I used it before it closed by the end of the year.


 I got the scallops that came with a loaded sweet potato and vegetables.

Saturday morning I had planned to meet some girlfriends for brunch so I wanted to make sure I got a run in beforehand. It was only in the 30's during my run but was supposed to get into the 60's later that day. I ended up running 5 miles. I didn’t do too much the rest of the day.

Sunday I had planned to go to the gym to take a body pump class. But I ended up waking up much earlier than anticipated so I decided to go for a short run since it was already in the 60's. My run didn’t go as well as I’d hoped for. I knew I wasn’t going to go very far but I had a few hiccups along the way.  About halfway through my run I knew I needed to stop and use the restroom.  Thankfully I was close to the visitor’s center that was opened. When I walked in the restroom I immediately got a nose bleed. I guess if I was going to get one it was perfect timing. I was in there for what felt like forever! Finally it stopped but I grabbed a bunch of tissues for the run back home just in case.  

Luckily there were no issues on the way back home. I ended with four miles and I was totally fine with that.  After my run I went to the gym. This evening I plan to meet up with some friends for a birthday party.  -L


How was your week?
Ever go to the gym just to shower?
Ever get a bloody nose while running?


We are linking up with Holly and Tricia for their weekly wrap.


Holiday Card Swap

Can you feel it? The holiday spirit is in the air already.  I've been itching to get out my Christmas decorations already but I am still trying to hold back until after Thanksgiving.  We'll see if that actually happens!

In the meantime I thought this was the perfect time to announce the Blogger Holiday Card Swap.  We've been hosting the Blogger Card Swap for a few years now and each year we have more bloggers that want to participate which is great.  We hope you want to participate with us this year!




Here's how it works:


1Sign up: Please let us know that you would like to participate by emailing us at fairytalesandfitness at gmail dot com.

 Please include your name (and name of your blog) and mailing address. (Please note your mailing address will only be shared with us Meranda and Lacey, and one other blogger).  Please sign up by Friday December 1.

2.  By Saturday (Evening) December 2, each blogger who participates will get the name and address of another blogger. You would then send that blogger a holiday card.  You are encouraged to send "a little something" with your card. It might be a coupon for an item you think they would like or perhaps it's a race sticker, a gift card, etc. It could be anything really, but please make sure it fits inside the card. We don't want you to have to pay for extra postage! The "little something" inside the card is just that, a LITTLE something.  I know some people got some really great somethings last year. People are really creative!   

3. Once you get the name of your "secret blogger" you are encouraged to visit their blog ( if you aren't already reading it of course). You might find that they are training for an upcoming race or maybe they are having a tough time with something and your encouraging words will be just what they need this holiday season.  This way you get to know a little bit more of who they are and what they enjoy. It is up to you as to whether or not you want to keep your "Secret blogger" a secret. 

4. Once you receive a card from a "secret blogger"  please mention it on your blog and give that blogger a shout out. Please also mention that you are doing the Holiday Card Swap with Fairytales and Fitness so your readers don't think you just get random cards from bloggers...haha. You can use #HolidayCardSwap  and tag us @Fairytalesnfit if you want to share on IG and/or Twitter too.

 Know that you will actually be connecting with 2 blogger, One that you will send a card to and one that will be sending YOU a card.  We thought this would be the best way to increase engagement among all who want to participate. Also, this way we don't have to worry about having an even number of participants. 



5. Mail out your Card.  Holiday cards should be mailed out between Dec 4 and Dec 18.  This way we get it all in before the Holiday rush of that last week before Christmas.  And remember, once you get your card, mention it and the sender in a blog post!


Okay, so now who's ready to spread some Holiday Cheer with us?  

If you have any other questions about the swap or there is something you are unsure of, please leave a comment below and we will respond!  Thanks!


OBX Pre-Race in Pictures

I had a busy and fun birthday weekend.  As you know from my previous post, I ran the Outer Banks Marathon with my Running Buddy.  Here is a little preview of how the weekend went Pre-Race.


We left Friday afternoon to head down to OBX. We stopped at a winery on the way down and then stopped to pick up our race packet at the expo that was not anything special. 



We found a good seafood restaurant close to the hotel and had a nice dinner before calling it a night. I chose the scallops over grits and it was delicious.

Saturday morning we woke up and went to a Pancake House before getting on the road to our next adventure. We were going to go on a sightseeing tour to see wild horses on the beach. This would have been a lot better had it been nice out. It was in the 40's and it was very windy. 

The car we rode in was an over-sized Hummer that didn’t even have windows. They did offer blankets but they didn’t help much. 



After a two hour tour seeing only a handful of horses I was over it. We were so cold after the tour that we decided the next activity we would do would have to be something inside. 



 We went to this local café for lunch and had some Pho to warm up and split some pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.  After lunch we went back to the hotel and I had my first birthday surprise. 


There were a bouquet of flowers and a balloon in our room when we arrived back from the tour. My friend is so thoughtful!  

 Later that evening we went to the movies to see Daddy’s Home 2. That was hilarious! We split popcorn while watching the movie and we were not hungry for dinner after having a big lunch and a late snack.

We got back to the hotel and got our stuff around for the marathon for the following morning. We had planned to go down to the hotel’s restauruant later if we got hungry, but the later it got the more tired we got and decided to just go to bed instead.

The morning of the race I woke up and I thought I was going to be a lot hungrier than I was but I wasn’t. I didn’t even eat my whole bagel with peanut butter that I planned to eat.


  After getting ready in the bathroom I came out and saw another birthday surprise on my bed.  Those small bags were my favorite treats of Swedish fish and sour patch kids (tropical flavor which were delicious) and a box that looked like it could have been a pair of sneakers(which I got last year from him). But they were even better. 


They were a pair of LL Bean moccasin slippers.  They would be perfect for after the marathon. And they were, so comfy! After having some more coffee we were out the door.  I had a fun few days leading up to the race but race day was even better!  You can read about that HERE!  -M


Outer Banks Marathon...A Birthday Surprise!

On Sunday I ran the Outer Banks Marathon. This was sort of a last minute decision. I figured I was already still in marathon condition from running Baltimore a few weeks before and it was on my birthday so I thought it was a sign that I should run it!


When I lined up I noticed that the 3:30 Pacer was right ahead of me. I thought Well I will try to stick with him as long as I can. We started out with a pretty big group. So many that I almost was knocking elbows with the person next to me. I thought Well I am doing just fine so if they don’t like it they can move. I was feeling pretty good for the first 6 miles. I kept thinking I hope I can feel this good at mile 16. I had one GU and no water so far. We were coming up at a water stop and I wanted to get one, but it was a bit crowded so I was going to try to get one at the last table, but by that time they were handing out Gatorade and I didn’t want that. So I said shoot, I wanted water and I know the guy beside me heard me. I looked at him and I said hey can I finish your water. He says sure there isn’t much left though. But it was just enough to keep me going. (I know what you’re thinking drinking after a stranger, but we are runners and have probably done worse, so don’t judge!)

We were heading into the trail part of the course by this time (mile 10) and for the most part it was dirt packed so it wasn’t too bad. I am used to running trails on my daily run at home but I was still cautious because I didn’t want to trip over a root or tree branch while trying to maintain this pace. It kept continuing and I thought When is this part going to be over because I am over it. We finally got off the trail around mile 13 and I was very happy about that. 

I thought we may have lost a little time with that mixed terrain but I could still see the pacer ahead of me so I had to be in the range. By this time the group was definitely dwindling so I think that trail gave those other runners a hard time.

By mile 17 there was only one other guy running with the Pacer and me!  The Pacer tells the other runner, And this girl is a beast look at her go. I just smiled and kept on going.  By mile 19 I was the only one running with the Pacer. He said You are so consistent and you are doing well. I have paced so many runners and I can tell from the beginning whether they have it or they don’t, and I know you do.
I didn’t want to be too over confident with myself but it did fuel me to keep up with him. And just about that time, it happened, my shoe came untied. Darn it! I told him that and he says Well just tie it, we are about 20 seconds ahead of schedule. I quickly tied it and caught right back up to him.  He then says to me I know you just want to take off. I said Well I am still feeling good but don’t want to push myself too early because that’s when the wheels usually fall off, the last 10k. He says to me, Not today they are not. If I can get one person to Boston, I will have done my job. 


Up ahead was supposed to be the most challenging part of the course (so I heard) the bridge, between mile 21-23. He said You got this and pretty much set me free it felt like! I took off and felt great. Even those miles on the bridge didn’t feel too bad. Heck I almost felt like Shalane Flanagan just floating along to the finish line. I knew I was going to surpass the 3:30 mark but by how much was the question now.

 I knew I had it in the bag the last mile. And then this song played on my Ipod and I was getting so emotional, I think I may have even shed a tear. Then I thought Ok Lace pull it together you need to finish strong and don’t get all choked up. So I started smiling and singing along. I later saw on my Garmin connect that I ran that last mile my fasted and got a negative split (which I hear is hard to do).


 I crossed the finish line smiling ear to ear. I know I did well but wasn’t sure what my official time was. Luckily they had a timing device you could look up your number immediately afterwards. I typed in my number and the slip printed out and I could not believe it. 3:27:17 What???? Oh yea, Boston here I come for sure 2019! Not only did I surpass my 3:35 BQ time,  I noticed that I placed 1st in my age group. So of course we had to stick around for the awards. 


  I received a nice pin that had my age place on the back of it.  


We  then met up with some other people we knew for a bit to enjoy the festivities. We received some pulled pork and sweet potato fries and my friend had a celebratory beer. I was too cold to hold a beer since I tossed my gloves during the race, so I opted for a coffee and we listened to the band.


After freshening up we were on the road and wanted to get some dinner. We’ve wanted to go to Guy Fieri’s restraurant to get his famous trash can nachos. 

Look at these things. Unfortunately they were a bit of a letdown, too soggy for being nachos.  After dinner we celebrated with a glass of wine and called it a night.



 Overall it was a great weekend. This was the best birthday gift ever! I couldn’t have asked for anything more, BQ, PR, AG, and even on my birthday! How will I top this one off next year? -L



                                         We will be linking up with the gals from TOTR.




I'm dreaming of a Weekly Wrap......November 12


I was so excited to watch the NYC Marathon last Sunday. I mean who would think that watching people run on TV would be exciting, but it is! I mean let’s face it, it’s the only time you’ll ever see anybody run the entire marathon course. I love being a spectator from my couch! I mean being a spectator in person is pretty cool too but you only get to see a portion of the race.

I must have been overly excited because the night before I had a running dream. This was the ONLY running that happened for me all week! I rarely dream about running. The last time I had a running dream was during the time I was training for the Tower of Terror 10 Miler at Disney. I was coming back from an injury and I would have this reoccurring dream that when the starting gun went off, my legs would not be able to run so I would have to walk. Thank goodness that dream did not come true.


So in my dream on Saturday night/Sunday morning I was going to run the NYC Half Marathon. Of course dreams aren’t always what they seem, right. In my dream this NYC Half Marathon actually started on a country road somewhere, clearly not NYC. When I got to the start line I realized I did not have my ipod. How would I run 13.1 miles alone without my music?  I did not want to go back for it so I thought I would make do. I also realized that there were not a lot of people at this race. Come on, this is NYC (or was supposed to be) where was everybody?  As I stood around with the handful of other runners, I got word that the race was going to be delayed. It was delayed again and I was starting to get annoyed. Then a lady told me that this wasn’t a half marathon, it was only the 500 meter dash! What???  But instead of being annoyed that I wasn’t running the half marathon, I gave a sigh of relief and said “O, well, then that’s perfectly fine that I don’t have my ipod”.  I do not remember actually running that race because my dream then switched gears.

On another country road they were starting the Full marathon and at one point they were letting people jump in to run some of the course if they wanted too. My mom decided that she was going to run some of it. I really wanted to run with her but I looked down at my feet and realized I was wearing flip flops. My sister also was wearing flip flops so she wasn’t going to run it either.  But then I looked down and saw my mom was wearing moccasins and she was still willing to run. I told her I would stand at the bottom of the hill and try to get a picture of her running as she headed toward the river (see, clearly not in NYC either). I waited for my mom and tried to get a picture of her running. That is wear the dream ended.   So weird right?  I wonder if those dreams were trying to tell me something?

I did not have any other dreams the rest of the week. In fact, the rest of the week was pretty boring. Work was busy and at home we spent a LOT of time picking out fixtures for our new kitchen. Our appliances were delivered this week and I am actually liking the stainless steel and don’t miss the white we had.



On Saturday my mom and I went to Make a Blanket Day for Project Linus. This is a charity we’ve been participating in for a few years now. We meet at the church and make blankets for the children’s hospital. We do the cut and tie fleece blankets but some of the more talented ladies make quilts.  ~M

We are linking up with Tricia and Holly for their Weekly Wrap!


Fashion Apps to check out!



Sometimes my brain doesn't always think in sets of 5.  So instead of forcing a Friday 5 on you that does not feel natural, I wanted to share with you a little bit about some cool Fashion apps I've been using even though there was only three!

 As a fashion columnist, I was naturally curious about this app called Stylebook when it started showing up in social media. I couldn’t even browse through Pinterest without seeing several advertisements for it. So, I finally caved and decided to download the app. 


When I went to the app store, I saw several similar apps that were free of charge. After digging a little deeper to see what they were about, I decided to download three freebies.  I figured I would see what I was able to do with the free apps before purchasing one. 

The three apps I downloaded were GlamOutfit, Closet Love, and Pureple



 I get the impression that GlamOutfit is more about the sharing aspect. You can put outfits together by uploading photos of items you already own or choosing from a preselected list of items. When you curate your own outfit, you then publish it to the site. When looking for outfit inspiration, you can browse through the site. There is also a shopping aspect to this app. While browsing, if you see an item you like, you can purchase it right from the site. What I found interesting with this app is that it also gave you links to see how the item was worn in real life, and how others styled it. So for instance, if you see a shirt you like and you choose to see how others styled it, it will show you all the outfits that other people put together using that shirt. This app has some cool features but I didn’t really care for how it was set up (not very user friendly) and it wasn’t really what I was looking for.  Also, I noticed that you can open other features by either earning or purchasing credits. You can buy 100 styling credits for $1.99.



Another app I downloaded was called Closet Love. I had high hopes for this app because the layout made it look very user friendly. I was able to easily upload a few pictures of my own items, but quickly learned that if I wanted to add a new category such as “dresses”, I had to pay to upgrade to the Pro version of the app. There were actually several features that required the upgrade. I found this app hard to use because it would frequently freeze up or shut down.


The final app I downloaded was Pureple. This app is the closest to Stylebook that I have found and I’ve had a lot of fun playing with it so far.  You start off by creating your closet. You can use the preselected clothing to represent pieces you already own or you can photograph and upload your own.  I didn’t feel that there were a lot of options in the preselected category so I chose to photograph my own pieces. This is probably the most time consuming (and maybe not so fun) part.  Having previously held a job as a stylist where I had to photograph clothing for catalogs and websites, I actually enjoyed this part.  I realized that if a piece wasn’t worth my time and effort to photograph and upload, then it was probably a piece I wouldn’t want to wear. This was a great way for me to eliminate items from my wardrobe.   As you are uploading each item, it will ask you to categorize it (shirts, sweaters, pants, jeans, dresses, shoes, accessories, etc.). Now comes the fun part, putting the outfits together. After selecting the pieces you want to wear together (don’t forget to add the shoes), you then label it by occasion such as work, active, night, weekend, or special occasion. You can then go a step further and label it by season or type of weather.  If you want a second opinion on your outfit, there is an option to share it with friends or the Pureple community. 

Playing with this app and putting outfits together has made me more aware of my shopping habits (AKA I do not need any more black shirts).However, I also noticed  that I have several shirts that need matching pants and several outfits that need the right shoes. Having your wardrobe at your fingertips makes it easy to determine what you already have at home and if what you have will match the item you want to buy.  Even though I am happy with what this app has to offer for free, there is an option to upgrade to Pro. When you upgrade, you get access to Style Stats. Style Stats will allow you to show outfits on your calendar (in case you want to know what outfit you wore on what day), and show you your most worn items and least worn items. It will also show you your Value Per Wear. This could be a great thing if you got an awesome deal on pair of jeans you wear often. However, it could be upsetting if you spent a small fortune on a sweater and only wore it once in the last year.  These upgraded features come standard with the Stylebook app.


There are of course other features for each of these apps, and many of them I haven’t used yet.  So far, I have been happiest with the free version of Pureple.   -M



Workout Wednesday and More

I had another busy week this week.

 Monday morning I took a Body Step class followed by a Body Pump class. I must have had plenty of energy after my class because when I got home I ended up running 11 miles (while listening to another podcast). That evening I met some friends out for her birthday. 


Tuesday I had to teach my spin class in the morning followed by my Silver Sneakers class. Since it was Halloween I wanted to be festive and wore my Halloween tights and brought some yummy brownie bites in to share with my class. That evening I met up with a friend that has a neighborhood block party and walked around with her two young girls trick or treating. 

Wednesday I had to teach back to back body pump classes (within 2 hours of each other). Since I knew I had to teach two classes at two different gyms there was no way of going home between classes, so I splurged and met a friend at Dunkin Donuts for a Pumpkin coffee and Pumpkin muffin. It was delicious! After teaching two classes, I decided to take the day off from running. 

Thursday I taught another Silver Sneakers class. I also signed up to run a last minute race on my birthday!


Friday I had to run some errands and they were close to this trail that I never get to run on so I ran 9 miles. It was a beautiful fall day out! After my run I stopped in to the Verizon store to buy another phone case.

 Earlier this week I dropped my phone on concrete and it really did a number on my phone. Well so I thought. I wanted to purchase another case at the store so they could put it on. When he removed the current one, there was not even a scratch on my phone. Even though the cases are expensive, they are much cheaper than a new phone so in my opinion so worth the money. I even got an extra discount because I get a discount through my employer on my monthly bill.  



That evening we went to the grocery store to find some more of that yummy pumpkin popcorn that we had the other week. But unfortunately they were sold out. I did however find some pumpkin Hershey kisses that are pretty tasty! Afterwards my sister and I went to Starbucks where I got my first eggnog latte of the season (I know it’s probably too early for that). It was ok, but I think I will try another flavor next time.  

Saturday my mom and I were planning to run a local 5k race. We tried to sign up Friday online but the website was down so we called and asked about it.  The lady said she would look into it and call back. Well she never did which was very frustrating. We could have signed up the day of, but the price was a big increase and we did not want to do it that bad!  So I decided to just run 6 miles by myself. 

 That afternoon I went to my first Escape room. My sister had mentioned that she did it with some friends the previous week but there were several different rooms and she wouldn't mind doing it again, so we did it with our family for my birthday.  Our room was called Pirate Abduction and it was very challenging. Even my sister said it was harder than the one they did the week before. We were separated into two different cells and we had to find clues that were really for the other cell to use to get out and vise versa. Then once they were out, they had to find another clue in order for them to unlock our cell and let us out.  Well needless to say we did not get out of the room in time. The guy working there said it was the hardest room and only a few do make it out within the time frame.  Not to mention that our room was accidentally missing one of the clues and the host had to come into our room and switch things around for us. 


That evening we had a birthday dinner of scallops and steak at my parent’s house with an ice cream cake that was very tasty!

 My sister bought me a Gel nail kit. I bought her one the other year and she seems to love it. So I am looking forward to trying it out myself.   -L

How was your week?