Lazy W Marie

Carpeing all the diems in semi-rural Oklahoma...xoxo

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our weekend of diems that were fully carpe’d

Hello and happy Monday!! Handsome and I are still thrumming from a weekend packed with good stuff. The “carpe diem” lifestyle has been happening, and it suits us just fine.

Starting with Friday night, we filled the farm with a variety of friends and family to swim and watch “Deep Blue Sea” outside under the stars. It was Shark Week, after all. I love how all of our people mix beautifully with each other. Really nice. And that movie! One of our all time favorites. I had forgotten how many lines from it we quote on a regular basis. Especially from LL Cool J. Hilarious.

Deep Blue Sea, 1999
This is Maddie, me, and Kenzie, left to right, swimming with sharks. Probably. We had a lot of fun scaring each other and having underwater flip contests while the movie played across from the deck.

deck + futon mattress + blankets = movie cuddles under the stars

After many hours of that fun we left the kitchen messy (a rare indulgence), crashed hard, and slept until an unheard of 7 am Saturday morning. Haha, that’s quite late for us. We enjoyed our leisurely morning routines, fed the critters, then set out for a little drive through small towns and back roads. That adventure took us to Tecumseh, where we explored antique rooms and ate an early and memorable lunch at The Farmer’s Daughter. Delicious! I’d been hearing lots about this cafe and am happy to report that it’s even better than expected.

Look at this interior wall made from old, chippy doors! And a chalkboard menu!

My meal was a salmon salad with all the delicious trimmings and exactly one bob bon, pecan-coconut covered in chocolate. Perfect. My guy had ribs with exactly his favorite kind of macaroni and cheese. We were both pretty proud of our selections.

After that we drove more, looking for garage sales, but came home with limited treasure. I did snag a few potted plants from a greenhouse tucked away on the side of a state highway. Also a stack of hardback books for 27 cents total, but that purchase cost us about 20 minutes standing in line. Why?? Haha Still, happy to have the books.

Angel wing begonia, foxtail fern, and a purple heart. Easy and lush.
I’m excited to read the Pickens memoir, and those Michener epics make my mouth water.

 

Late Saturday night, after some swimming and playing with the animals, Handsome got brave and anted-up for yoga. The outdoor movie screen was still in place, so we used it to follow a Tara Stiles “relaxing” sequence, haha, but let’s just say it was a rage-filled half hour!! So much fun though. He cracks me up. We might try Adrienne next time, as she is much more mellow and low key.

Sunday mid-morning I laced up for 7 miles of pure bliss, an hour very well spent. My body is really getting comfortable again, and the weather was magical. I bumped into two sets of friends at the park where I ran, and those conversations were icing on the cake!

While I ran, Handsome worked on his Cadillac restoration. He’s undecided and enjoying the creative process, but for now the previously pink beauty is a sleek and sexy black. Her name is Marilyn.

We swam more and did a few other projects around the farm.

baby watermelons!

Late Sunday afternoon we threw on some clean clothes and drove to the city for something we rarely seek out unless we are in New Orleans: Live music!

Our friend Lynn has fallen madly in love with (and secretly married!!) an exceptionally talented musician whose band is all rockabilly, both vintage and original, which is straight up our musical alley.

The band is called “Jimmy Dale and the Beltline,” and if you ever get a chance to see them live, jump on it!! We had so much fun. I promise to tell you more about this unique couple soon. Besides being adorable and loving, they nurture a joint creative force that makes Oklahoma pretty special.

Whew! As I hit “publish” on these weekend memories, Handsome and I are still happily thrumming from it all. We are also coming down off some incredible Monday energy. You know that exhausted-but-accomplished feeling you earn after setting yourself up for a really excellent work week, and you probably want chicken and dumplins for dinner, and maybe a foot rub? That and more. So good.

Thanks for checking in, friends! See you tomorrow for Monday stories, a recipe, and more.

“I got a black car!”
~Jimmy Dale
XOXOXOXO

 

3rd of 7 simple things that have improved my running lately

Thanks for stopping in to chat again about running! Running is probably my fourth favorite topic of conversation, after what I like to eat, how cute my dog is, and how the book is always better than the movie.

Today I have collected my thoughts about post-run stretching and cool downs. Just how it has all helped me feel great these past few months.

Apex Trail, Colorado, July 2017

In case you want to catch up, I’ve been slowly writing this little series. You can click the links below to read about each topic. I would love to hear your thoughts!

7 Simple Improvements to Running

  1. Dynamic Warm Ups before every single run, no matter what.
  2. Tweaks in Running Form (thanks again Mickey!)
  3. Longer, more mindful stretching cool-downs
  4. Abs, Glutes, & Hips! Actually all sorts of cross training, but especially core work.
  5. Diet Improvements, especially migrating toward the “Queen-Princess-Pauper” pattern.
  6. Intuitive Living, all the things we do daily to re-learn how to trust our own bodies
  7. Attitude and Outlook! Gratitude every day, for every mile, no matter what.

#3. Cool Down & Stretch!!

All the time runners joke about how they know they should stretch more, but they just don’t. Why do you think that is? My theory is that the ritual robs more of our precious laced-up time. We’re busy people and are already bummed for the mile we missed doing dynamic warm ups, right? haha

The thing is, stretching is magical. It feels good immediately to lengthen and rest our hard working muscles while we catch our breath; and it does a lot long term to prevent injury, helping us avoid back-body tightness and all kinds of other problematic stuff. I am pretty sure not stretching for so many weeks had a lot to do with my foot pain turning into total calf pain, then knee pain, hip weirdness, etc. All better now, though!

Rather than reinvent the wheel and tell you exactly what stretches to do (they are so easily researched), I’ll just encourage you, if you don’t have a routine yet, to find one and be consistent. I used to think it was just a fancy formality, but it really does help. Mine takes maybe 6 or 7 minutes and is deeply refreshing.

And I will offer these extra personal tidbits:

  • Hold each position for a longer time than you think is necessary, no bouncing please.
  • Explore twists and deepening moves as you go, like in yoga. Find the tension in your body, the sweet spots, everything.
  • Breathe fresh air and light into your body as you stretch, too. (Yes I know that makes me sound like I follow moon cycles, I do.)
  • Lastly (this is the most personal part) give thanks for the miles you just finished. Let your cool down be an overall closing ritual so that you end on a really positive, healthy note. Even on the days you are not super quick or maybe your endurance was slightly less than you wanted it to be (hello summertime temps), you did more than zero! And by giving your body some TLC you get to try again soon. Also, I have always been vainly critical of my legs, so this deliberate act of appreciation for my body’s work has done wonders to help me feel happier and more focused on health and wellness than just looks.

Results?

Since adding the dynamic warm ups before running and the cool down stretches after, I have noticed a delicious flexibility in my joints and actual smoothness in my muscles. Strong but not stiff. Really nice.  I rarely hobble around the farm anymore, either, which is good. I definitely look forward to those mellow minutes at the end of each workout.

So do your warm ups. Have great form. Stretch!

And do George Michael karaoke if you get the chance.

“Stretching’s natural, stretching’s good!
Not every runner does it, but every runner should!”
XOXOXOXO

a private moment filled with reminders

At the park where I ran this morning is an open-air, concrete pavilion with several large caged fans mounted at the ceiling, all pointed down to the floor at different angles. I was stopped for a drink of water at a brick building about twenty feet away.

A young dad was standing inside that pavilion, holding his young son up in the air, facing away from him, the dad’s arms wrapped around his little boy’s slender, stiffened legs, chunky sneakers hitting his dad mid-torso. The boy’s arms, also stiff, were glued to his own torso. His blonde head was tilted back, and he was screaming into the fan, at high volume and with lots of gusto:

“III LLLOOOOOVVVEE YYOOOOOOUUUUU DDAAAAADDD!!!”

Over and over again.

Just like we all did to oscillating fans when we were kids. But it was an extra big fan. Extra loud.

So many times.

The dad just held him there, a blonde headed little torch of energy, beaming happiness. The boy screamed I love you dad at least a dozen times while I stood there drinking water and stretching, spying on their private moment in public.

Mom, baby me, and Dad, circa 1974.

This is what I wanted to tell you today:

Go for a run if you can and love your kids steady and hold them up really strong and love your dad, too.

Over and over again.

XOXOXOXO

 

sweet sixteen, midweek check in

My husband and I are quite talented at Staycation-ing. Or is it called Staying-Cation? Whichever, we are so good at doing this thing where you schedule time “off” but do not travel. You just stay home (mostly) and do and eat what you want (mostly) and luxuriate in the fruits of your hard earned nest feathering labors from the previous several months.

We tend to reserve a week or so for exactly this pleasure every summer around our wedding anniversary. This July we are celebrating 16 years, and for the first time maybe ever I feel the heft of that number.

Not in a bad way, not at all. Just in a less juvenile way than before. If that makes sense. Almost as if all the anniversaries prior had been tokens or curiosities, or practices, even the milestones like 5 or 10.

Do you remember the birthday from your own childhood when you suddenly felt older, less like a little kid, not quite grown up but certainly in that middle ground between the two? It’s a feeling familiar to that. I know we are no longer a new couple; yet we are far from having venerable tenure.

Handsome and I have expereinced and accomplished a lot together in sixteen-plus years as a couple, so it’s a surprise to me that I should only just now feel the heft of a numerical representation of our union.

Sixteen.

Sweet sixteen.

Old enough to drive in this country.

Old enough to actually marry in some places.

The age when most teenagers begin to work for their own actual paychecks.

Still a transitory age, though. And not an altogether easy one.

The traditional gifting mediums for the sixteenth wedding anniversary are silver and peridot. But we have never adhered to this.

After all, we are saving money by not traveling, right?  One of our accidental but long-standing traditions is to gift a single thing to each other, a treasure for the house or the farm, some indulgent memento that we hopefully always remember as “the thing we found at our so-and-so anniversary!” With some luck we tend to find these treasures at cool, weird, cobwebby places for either cheap or nothing. Or, we reserve our anniversary for purchases larger than we might normally make.

Sometimes we see beautiful objects and take in the artistic inspiration then tackle a DIY for the farm. I like this image for that:

Does the Lazy W need a silver-painted mermaid? Probably.

As of this blog post we have not found our 16th year treasure. I’ll keep your posted.

Back to Stay-Cationing!

Some of our favorite activities are pretty obvious: Swimming and laying out in the (abundant, oppressive, delicious, healing) Oklahoma sun, grilling food outside and generally cooking whatever we feel like from day to day, keeping a slightly less rigorous healthy diet. (At the onset of this week we went grocery shopping together and filled the cart with quite a selection of separate cravings.)

Plus literally the best restaurant food.

Lots of spinach topped with pistachio-crusted goat cheese, mango, grilled chicken, prosciutto, and more. HEAVEN.

We go to the movies sometimes, a rare treat. This week we have seen both Pirates of the Caribbean and War for the Planet of the Apes. Such good films!!

We go running for fun, not training, I mean mostly I do, but I try not to feel guilty about it, and the boys have been joining the sweat fest a little bit too!

We socialize with friends. Sleep in the heat of the afternoon if we need it, especially in our cold and comfy green room downstairs. In fact sometimes we even sleep downstairs at night, like a slumber party. It’s great.

Staycation is for looser schedules, maximum sunshine, indulgent foods, and lots of want to do activity, less have to do.

Several times per day the words sweet sixteen pop into my head.

Happy Anniversary, BW. Midway through our week off together, I wish you all the rest and refreshment you crave. I love you more now than ever.

XOXOXOXO

a much happier storm season blowing through us

When the farm has just emptied of kids, evidence is plenty. The deck, pool, and surrounding lawns are all festooned with brightly colored plastics: Water guns and leaky swim masks, half-inflated floats, sun-crunchy pirate beach towels, and orphaned flip flops and hair ties. They are all scattered like confetti across the calm, green expanse. We discover an empty juice box here and there, a chewed-to-nothing melon rind, a discarded (hopefully used up) bottle of sunblock.

The chairs and chaise lounges are all askew, abandoned and resting happily like exhausted chaperones after a late night middle school dance.

When we bought these nine acres in 2007, our dream and vision was to give our girls, then 10 and 12, a second half of childhood, a healthy, wholesome coming of age with lots of space for deep breathing and long-leg stretching, animals to love and learn from, and much more.

The seeds of that vision had barely germinated when some destructive life storms blew through our family and changed everything for a season. We hung on, everyone survived, and eventually the sun came out again, brighter than ever. But that’s another story for another day.

Now I sit outside soaking up the cheerful debris of a happier storm, one of so many like it, each one important. “Cousin-Palooza 2017” came and went in a flash, leaving in its wake all this color and all these good vibrations. I sit here taking note of how much love and joy have actually grown here in the midst of that other storm.

Despite it? Or because of it?

For all the years that storm took from our family, has it actually nourished our foundation?

I think so.

I think, I feel in my bones, that the culling and strengthening and the deep watering from both tears and sweat have all contributed to an ongoing beautification. Not just a bigger deck or prettier gardens, not just faster internet, better food and more artwork on the walls- although yes to all of that!

But really, more trusting hearts for my husband and me. Freer minds. Effervescent joy that is actually pretty difficult to flatten.

We are blessed beyond reason. Thankful for adult siblings who trust us with their children so we can share these nine acres in some of the ways we always imagined. Happy to cultivate memories and bonds with our nieces and nephews that, despite inevitable storms headed our way in the future (that’s just how life goes), will last a lifetime and anchor us all.

Chloe, Kenzie, & Greg. July 2017 xoxo
Daybreak in Fort City, upstairs in the Apartment. They slept hard for almost 7 hours then sprang awake at full power, ready for chocolate chip pancakes and more fun.
Little fishes doing tricks all day long.

I always resist the hurry to clean up after a party. I am in no hurry to see it all wiped away, all the colorful debris that kids especially leave behind.

Except that other good stuff is on its way, and we need to make room. Every day, every moment, holds a new promise and a host of surprises. The whole big, beautiful, equally colorful future is about to happen.

I’m ready.

XOXOXOXO