Athleta

I am really bad about checking our mailbox. And our home voice mail. I'm also really bad about dusting and filing home office paperwork and saying no to Hot Tamales and really good tortilla chips. But that's beside the point.

So last night, I checked the mail and probably set a record for checking it two days in a row. It was the first night in a long string of nights that I can remember being home at a decent hour with absolutely nothing on my critical agenda (unless you call folding the five loads of laundry I'd done the day before critical). I didn't think so either.

Much to my delight, a new catalog from a company I'd never heard of before was in the stack of mostly junk mail. It was from Athleta. The picture on the inside cover intrigued me (a seriously musucular woman in her 30's on a tropical beach in a super cute swimsuit). So I grabbed my tall glass of ice water, pulled up a chair at my kitchen table, smiled at my three youngest peeps all cozy in their jammies watching a little wind-down TV before bedtime, and started leisurely parousing the pages. I could've doggy-eared the entire catalog with my wish list. Totally cute suits, super sporty looking running tanks, the comfiest running shorts ever, board shorts, to die for cover ups, yoga pants, and the list goes on and on. I was in heaven... but really just wanted to be in Hawaii on the beach with my honey :)

Long story short, I was super inspired (again) to be fit. What I really loved about this catalog was that the models were not your typical swimsuit or cover girl models. These women were athletes. Super athletes. The kind that ooze "I am one lean muscle and I live strong." All these women looked healthy and fit and lean and ripped. Hence the modeling gig for Athleta I guess. As I laid in bed last night (with no Ryan by my side since he was on night three of six away at scout camp), I wondered what these women really did all day long. Were they professional athletes? Were they moms like me? Were they dual career women, wives, homemakers, runners? Or just super cut models. I'm sure I'll never know, but I was a little inspired for sure. I know that's it's not healthy to compare ourselves to others and certainly not to hold ourselves up to some unrealistic ideal. And I know that after four kids and two C-Sections that I'll never have ripped abs like that. And I'm OK with it. It was a good inspiration. Really. The kind that makes you think, "I can work a little harder. I can push a little more. I can do it." Then I checked the Facebook app on my iPhone and saw my high school friend's Rim to Rim pics from Memorial Day and starting getting excited for our next Rim to Rim journey this September. I can hardly wait!

So this morning when my iPhone alarm beckoned me to wake while my three precious peeps still slept (Barrett was away too at Girl's Camp), I had a little extra spring in my step and little more excitement to start the daily workout. I upped my dumbell weights a couple pounds for the Sculpt routine and pushed it a little harder than the day before. It felt good. Really good. When I was finished I wanted to keep going and head out the door for a run too, but the clock told me it was shower time or I'd never make it out the door for work in time.

I'm already looking forward to my first 3-day weekend of the summer at home (I always have a three-day weekend since I don't work Fridays) with full nights of sleep, great workouts, a long run, and a little Vitamin D by the pool.

Life is good. My kids are happy and healthy. Ryan & Barrett will be home on Saturday and we'll all be back together again. (And I did finally get those 5 loads of laundry folded before bed :)