The prairie

I love it as much as the sea and more than the mountains. I wish I could run every hill and shout all the way to the clouds.

(somewhere between Kansas and Nebraska, 2010)

Things to do tomorrow...

Here's a basic itinerary of my summer:

Ok, honestly, that's not my handwriting. Or my to-do list. But ice pops are non-negotiables.

I've plunked right into a 9-year old's vacation as a 27-year old. 

Then, in Humboldt, NE, in the '90s, I would take my 10-speed to and from swimming lessons, and fall asleep on the couch to SportsCenter or The Facts of Life or Major Dad or Charles in Charge or Wings until Dad came home to lunch on Our Family bean with bacon soup and braunschweiger/MiracleWip/lettuce sandwiches. We would return to the pool and hit the library before dinner, and check out the scene on the playground by our house after that. Finally, bedtime when it was still light out. Horribly unfair, but probably why I did well on standardized tests.

Now, I have a 10-speed waiting under a tarp for me to air up the tires, burn some cals, and save the Toyota Matrix some miles. Not much for TV, but I will easily nestle into the couch for loan applications, Pinterest, Dostoyevsky, or rumpled-but-clean laundry, and nod off like the olden days. I have not purchased braunschweiger as an independent woman, but would eat it if it were free, sure as shootin'. Social life is more scheduled. Bedtime is later. Brain cells probably suffering.

What a trip. Pink icy pop?

Be you.

"God used His creative energy to make you uniquely you, 
don't spend all yours today trying to be like someone else." 
-Louie Giglio

Bayfield, Wisconsin, c. 2008

A Sound Mind in a Sound Body

"In 1949, Mr. Kihachiro Onitsuka began his athletic footwear company (Onitsuka Co., Ltd.) by manufacturing basketball shoes out of his living room in Kobe, Japan. He chose the name ASICS for his company in 1977, based on a famous Latin phrase "Anima Sana In Corpore Sano", which when translated expresses the ancient ideal of "A Sound Mind in a Sound Body." Taking the acronym of this phrase, ASICS was founded on the belief that the best way to create a healthy and happy lifestyle is to promote total health and fitness."  - About Asics

Tala's July Challenge: Run every day of the month of July, for at least 15 minutes and no more than 4 hours (haha) to build discipline and to remind myself how much I like to run.

So far, I have laced up my Asics more times in the last two weeks than in previous months combined. I have also choked on my challenge - on the days that seemed so long and hot, it was easy to "wait 'til the sun set" to run...and by the time the sun set, I was ready for bed and not for beating the pavement with my tennie runners.

Such is life. We all really know that I'm telling you, "the they," that nameless audience spread out across the blogdom, of this goal because I need the internet's version of positive peer pressure to not quit the July challenge before the month runs out.

Two more weeks 'til the August Challenge!