The Fabulous Life of Stefanie

Hi there! I'm sitting around sweating and resting my tired feet and thought it would be a good time to check in and say hi.  Last time we spoke I was prepping for Easter and Marathon weekend, which was an absolutely wonderful few days. I'm looking forward to dedicating a future post to this year's Boston Marathon and the amazing events I was able to experience.  Today we are on the last day of our vacation, which has brought us from Sacramento to Yosemite to San Francisco and Oakland and then back to the suburbs of the Bay Area. It's been a whirlwind and I am definitely feeling all of the fun we have had deep in my muscles...and desire for a serious nap! Our first part of our trip was spent celebrating one of my best friend's weddings, which both Maddie and I had the honor of being in. It was a beautiful, intimate and completely "them" wedding. Every detail was just so perfectly about their love and I am so thankful we got to celebrate with them.  We rente...

Sometimes I photobomb the kid while she brushes her teeth. Before this whirlwind weekend takes off, I wanted to stop in and wish everyone a happy Friday, and an extra happy Good Friday and Easter to those of you who celebrate. I have a short day at work today, which is an awesome way to round out a really productive week in the office. I got a huge burst of motivation and energy seeing my vacation days on the calendar and it pushed me to get a lot of things done that I have been wanting to tackle.  Once I get out of the office I am forcing Matt to also take a half day with me so we can all go to church, where I am scheduled to read, and then I have to be a total last minute mama and go get everything for Maddie's Easter basket and egg hunt. Whoops! To say I have been swamped lately would be the understatement of the year, and at least it isn't the day before! Tomorrow I am running the BAA 5k, which will be a fun way to kick off the weekend and get pumped for wa...

There is not much to say that has not been said. Boston Strong. Resilience. Prayers. Love. Peace. It has been a year since the Marathon attack and today was spent remembering, mourning and looking ahead to the future. People came from all over, returning to the spot where their lives changed forever. We all have our story. I told mine just a few days after the attack, when it all really started to sink in. I was supposed to be there, I was not, my family, friends and running acquaintances were all left unharmed. Not everyone I know was so lucky. I have friends who knew one of the dead and many more who know the injured. Martin Richard and his family live less than a mile from our home in Dorchester. But for one little quirk in life that day I would have been standing in the same spot as the Richard family, just as I had the year before as we all watched Matty cross the finish line. If I think too hard about it I get anxious, scared and sad. After the attack I had a weird fear ...

I often say that my career has prepared me pretty well for parenting: five years of Starbucks taught me how to live off of no sleep; working in the prison taught me how to appreciate my freedom; working with mental health patients taught me how to deal with schizophrenia, violent outbursts and periods of mania and managing has taught me how to have difficult conversations and to use positive reinforcement. Maddie, however, has taught me the most important lesson of all, which is how to love unconditionally, even when she is exhibiting all of the aforementioned lessons.  Toddlers, my friends, they sure are something. Luckily, they are also hilarious little humans. This morning after getting dressed (which is either the most awesome or the very worst most terrible thing ever, depending on the day, or minute) Maddie dug around in her toy box pulling out a pair of bright orange star sunnies and a metal Curious George radio. She then proclaimed "mama, I going to school"...

I don't know why, but Maddie has been having some serious sleep issues again, which results in her waking up in the middle of the night and one of us sleepwalking to bring her into bed with us and then her keeping us up for a couple of hours until we either put her back in her room, where she eventually passes out, or us almost giving up on ever sleeping again when she eventually passes out....at which point an alarm always seems to go off. This morning, my sweet, sweet husband actually got up with her at 5am and let me have a glorious hour all to myself in which I had the deepest sleep ever.  But then it was time to get up.  I know that someday we will all joke about what a terrible sleeper little Maddie was and how it helped her study so hard to become the engineer/train conductor/macaroni and cheese chef she ends up being, but for now, it just sucks. A lot . And it makes for some pretty hard Mondays, especially with those long runs on Sunday. Oh, parenthood...

Every so often I like to have a date with my first love on the East Coast: my beautiful city! I haven't had one of these days in a while; it has been a busy few months and, let's face it, walking around Copley Square with the freezing wind whipping at your face isn't really my idea of a romantic time. Lucky for me, yesterday finally felt like a real spring day and I had some rare time to myself before a hair appointment on Newbury with no toddler, no agenda and no rushing necessary. I walked down Boylston and Newbury, checking out the colors starting to emerge in the shop windows and even popping into H&M to peek at the spring line and plan my next shopping trip. I took my time, finally felt some rays of sunshine on my face and the possibility that winter is really over finally in my heart. It was nothing short of completely lovely. After getting beautified (Shaighla at Marc Harris has been my girl for years and even did my hair for our wedding, HIGHLY recommend her)...

Try as I might, I cannot think of anything to blog about that doesn't include complaining about the weather, recapping our super busy weekend, talking about running or gushing about that super sweet cherub of ours. That is boring though, right? These are the things that I ALWAYS talk about. I mean, this is my life - being busy and running and raising an awesome little person (all while loathing the weather), but I feel like I should be saying more. I love to read blogs and I get a lot of joy from knowing people come to this little corner of the internet to read these words and I really want to be more here. Heck, I will be more here, someday. Just not today. What I really need is a vacation, and I cannot wait for 23 days to pass so that we can officially be on one. Not to wish three weeks away, because there is a lot of good stuff on the calendar, but I want to get away and press my reset button. I want to see my Mom and not have cell service and stay...