Happy Weekend: On the Road.

In honor of hitting the road this evening, here are a few of my favorite road trip songs. Hope your weekend is full of music, adventure, fun and family.

Wearing: Road Trip, Weekend Away.

This weekend, hubs and I are hitting the road for New Jersey to visit my family and get away from the city for a couple days. One of the reasons I love living where we do is because it is closer to my family - only about a four hour drive. Whether traveling by car, plane or train, this is my go-to in-transit outfit:

The perfect grey t-shirt I wore on July 4th is great for traveling. Same with these pants. They are chambray, so they are super light, ideal for summer when you may experience an over-air conditioned airplane, movie theater or grocery store, but don't want to bake when you're outside in the heat. The pair shown here is Joe's Jeans, but I got mine from Target. My no-brainer travel shoes are these DKNY flats I bought a few summers ago at Macy's. They keep my feet cool, but have a substantial sole, so I can walk for miles in them.

I wear the same jewelry every time I leave town. The pyramid earrings work for dressy and casual outfits, and so are the perfect pair to wear all trip long. These necklaces, aside from being beautiful, are kind of my good luck charms. I have this Max & Chloe initial necklace (with a G) and this Jess LC Franklin necklace with the phrase "Be Brave" in braille and I wear them every time I travel. Another accessory I always bring with me when I travel is a scarf. I love this one from Aldo. No matter the temperature where I am or where I'm going, chances are, at some point, I am going to be cold.

For a weekend away, I'm usually able to get all the items I need in this Hollywood Intuition bag I bought at Target last year. For a longer trip, I use it as my carry on because it fits my DSLR camera, a change of clothes, toiletries, travel documents, wallet, phone and iPad like a champ. For this weekend we are just going on a low-key trip, so I'm not planning on bringing much. Aside from my running stuff and PJs, this is all I'll pack:

My striped longsleeve t-shirt is a staple in my wardrobe. The one I own is from Gap, purchased last summer for about $20. The one shown here is from J.Crew and costs more than I would spend on almost any piece of clothing. I have a shirt similar to this gingham check button down from Old Navy and love it. Mine is flannel, so not ideal for summer, but still light enough to wear when temps are mild, as they should be this weekend. If it warms up, I'll probably change into a tank, like this one from Old Navy. These shorts are perfect because they go with every other piece I'll have with me for the weekend. I have a similar pair in linen that I bought at Target a few years ago.

Because I am staying at my parents' house, I can keep my toiletries to a minimum. So I'll make sure to bring my face cleanser and tinted moisturizer from Kiehl's and a pretty coral-colored lip gloss (Revlon Color Stay Mineral Lip Glaze in Continuous Coral). C'est tout.

Making it Home: Hanging Art.

I will admit that I have not felt the urgency to settle in to this apartment. It may be that I am road-weary from having lived in three apartments in one year. I feel that the next move is always right around the corner - why get comfortable? But chances are we will be in this apartment for a year or two, so it was time to make the place feel more like home.

The easiest way to warm up our cookie-cutter, beige walls-on-beige carpet apartment was to hang the artwork and photographs we have collected over the years. How to fit it all in? Our walls were large, but our art was plentiful. Luckily, I'm a sucker for a good gallery wall.

Source: baltares.blogspot.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Source: youaremyfave.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Source: madebygirl.blogspot.com via Lauren on Pinterest

My friend recently put together a gallery wall in her new Denver apartment. On her blog, she wisely calls it the family memory wall. It includes photographs, meaningful song lyrics, a letter her husband wrote to her when they were 14 years old (oh my gosh, awwww, right?), her Chicago Marathon finisher medal and other items that hold personal value to them as a family.

In our Chicago apartment we had a wall of black and white photographs, mostly from our then-recent wedding. Because we are now living in a very blank space, I thought black and white photos would be too stark. Besides, we have so many great pieces that we have collected, been gifted, made, or inherited. Each of these pieces hold such meaning to us for different reasons. So this is our memory wall:

1. This photograph was given to me by my aunt and is of my grandfather's family. He is just a little boy, and you can barely see him sitting at the far end of the table.
2. A reproduction of a painting hubs fell in love with when we lived in Chicago. The artist, Bruce Holwerda, frequently showed his work at a gallery up the street from our apartment, and we would see this painting as we'd walk home from dinner or the grocery store. My sister and her boyfriend gave us a reproduction for Christmas the year before we moved out of Chicago.
3. Two paintings by Chicago artist Nancy Rosen. Nancy is a good friend of a good friend. She is a great artist and fabulous person.
4. One of my most beloved items - the thing that I would grab if my house were on fire - a painting by my grandmother. This painting sat on the top of a bookcase in my parents' room for my entire childhood. I would look at it when my mom would brush and blowdry my hair at night, when we'd open stockings in their room on Christmas morning, or after borrowing a necklace off of my mom's jewelry stand. Three years ago, my mom had the painting framed and gave it to me for Christmas. I forget if I got anything else that morning. It doesn't matter.
5. A painting I did in high school. I love it and it picks up the color of the quilt we have on our bed.
6. I made this painting/collage for hubs just a couple weeks after we started dating. It incorporates pictures of items that were already meaningful to us in that short time: a coffee advertisement, a science textbook, a picture of an airplane. It also includes part of Pablo Neruda's Sonnet XVII ("I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where..."), which three years later would be read at our wedding.
7. I gave this print to hubs on our first anniversary. It is by artist Brian Andreas and is titled One of Us.

Training Tuesdays: 07.12.11.

On Sunday, we only did a 10-mile run. Lord help me that I am already at the point in my training schedule that I can use the word "only" and the phrase "10-mile run" in the same sentence (unless the sentence is: "I can't believe I only ate three pints of Ben & Jerry's after my 10-mile run." In that case, Lord help me for other reasons. My abdominal girth and cholesterol, for example.).

Aside from actually taking down a pint of Phish Food, two other exiting things happened this past week. 

1. I logged my 200th training mile. Can you believe it? Since May 7th, I have run more than 216 miles.

2. Since I still have so many miles left to run, I invested in my second pair of running shoes of the season. The new model of my shoe, the Brooks Defyance, is quite different from the previous model that I had been running in. They seem more cushioned and have a more noticeable arch support. I have put 23 miles on the new pair over my last three runs, and so far I like them just fine. Here are the things that are currently (and hopefully continually) keeping my feet happy during all this pounding:

The current model of the shoe I wear is the Brooks Defyance 4, and the only socks I even consider wearing for runs of any distance, no matter the season, the temperature, or the terrain, are Smartwool PhD Ultra Light Micro Socks. I lurve them. And to make extra sure I keep the blisters away, I have started putting BodyGlide on my toes. I also use it on other places that are bound to chafe, like along the seams of my sports bra and shirt, but that's a talk for another time. 

Anyway, this is a cut-back week. And 10 miles felt great - easy, even. I know my long runs are not always going to be easy, especially as we ramp up in the next few weeks - 14, 16, and 17-milers before our next recovery run the first week in August.

For this week, I am looking forward to taking it a little easier than usual. This is my running schedule for the rest of the week:

Weekend Recap: Relaxing, Reverting.

This weekend, we all did a lot of this:

While I was out running errands on Friday afternoon, I stopped in at AC Moore and picked up some embroidery floss to make friendship bracelets (like I mentioned here). By the time I left the store we were getting some wicked thunderstorms and downpours, so it was the perfect time to cozy up on the couch and try to remember how my young fingers used to turn this string into jewelry. I got the hang of it after just a little while, and enjoyed the mindless monotony of tying a knot, tying a knot, tying a knot... 

After my run on Sunday morning - only 10 miles (more on this tomorrow) - hubs and I took these beauties out for a spin. We rode 5 miles down Beach Drive to our favorite farm stand to pick up some local produce. Tomatoes. Peaches. Blackberries. Green beans. Yum. Then it was 5 miles back home. Ouch.

When we got home, we turned on the USA v. Brazil Women's World Cup game, which ended up being a 120 minute plus nail-biter of epic proportions. My nerves were rattled watching the end of the game...actually, the last half of the game, extra time and penalty kicks. I cannot handle penalty kicks. I think I conjure memories of taking PKs in a few high school state tournament games and the anxiety makes my head want to explode. After the American ladies won the game, I needed a nap. Like this guy:

Have a Beautiful Weekend.

Wearing: Pretty Summer Outfit.

Yes. I am an almost-30 year-old woman that likes friendship bracelets. For some reason, I can't get enough of them lately. I saw some at Eastern Market a few weeks ago and cannot wait to get back to buy a few. Better yet, I may hit up Michael's or AC Moore this weekend and try to get back in my 12 year-old self's brain and remember how to make them. They maybe don't go with my original intent for this outfit, which was to create an ensemble that is a little dressier than what I normally wear during the summer. I felt like a bright, jersey dress would do just that, especially since I have been rocking t-shirts and shorts most days. I found this Calvin Klein dress at Marshall's for $30 and I have worn it at least 8 times in the past couple months. The floppy hat from Target and DKNY sandals (that I picked up at Macy's a couple years ago) are my summer staples. And this gorgeous cuff bracelet is by talented New Orleans-based jewelry designer Gogo Borgerding. Check out her website and, if you are in New Orleans, visit her store on Magazine Street. My sister bought me one of her cuffs - Tiger pattern in magenta - as a Christmas/half-marathon-finishing present and it is my favorite piece of jewelry. I wouldn't mind slowly creating a collection of Gogo cuffs and wearing them all together.