A New Decade: A New Adventure

I turn 40 in September of this year. I remember when my parents turned 40. It was a big deal. There were black balloons, “over the hill” signs, and surprise parties. I thought they were old. Now that I’m 6 months away from the Big 4-0, I don’t think they were old. (I was going to post a picture from this era, but since this is our first week together, I decided to save that humiliation for another time.)

However, given my advancing age, I want to send my 30’s out in style. I’ve thought of ways to do this, and this Blog was the only realistic possibility. For example, joining the circus for a month: too dangerous and I have substantial coordination issues. Making the U.S. Olympic Curling team: I don’t know how to curl and there are no Olympics this year. (See also the aforementioned coordination issues.) Joining a Real Housewives franchise: There is no Real Housewives of Cincinnati franchise and let’s be honest, I’m not interesting enough. Also, I’ve already aged out of American Idol so that’s out, too.

That leaves me with this: A blog where I document the not-so-perfect lives of two working parents, who are lucky enough to have two creative kids (Em and X) and three cats, all of whom make life interesting. We also have some fantastic friends (who accept Nothing Bundt Cakes as payment for helping with the kids) and family who help us out along the way.

I hope to encourage others to join me in running/walking races along the way to my 40th birthday and hopefully, make a few people laugh every week.

The Unimportant Important Stuff. I will use this portion of my blog to highlight things I see as not getting enough attention. For example, this week, the “dressy sweatshirt”. If you know me, you know I love gray hooded sweatshirts, the older the better. For years, my old sweatshirts have been my weekend uniform. However, now that we have kids that participate in events on the weekend, I’ve realized these old-favorites can no longer be the wardrope staple they once were.

This brings me to the “Dressy Sweatshirt” (and the summer equivalent: the “dressy t-shirt”). The Dressy Sweatshirt is really the key to my weekend wardrobe. I don’t want to wear a sweater all weekend because sweaters are too formal for an indoor soccer game on a Saturday. However, your old, go-to gray, hooded sweatshirt is just not going to cut if you run into co-workers or clients. The Dressy Sweatshirt is the answer. You can wear it with confidence, knowing you are not overdressed or underdressed for the occassion. (If you want to really dress it up, go with color, but no thumb holes. Matching long sleeve t-shirt underneath finishes the look.)

My current favorite Dressy Sweatshirt is this FC Cincinnati sweatshirt I purchased from Homage in September. (Yes, I realize it is the old FCC logo.) I wear it a lot because it expresses my love of FCC, doesn’t have holes, and doesn’t have a hood. Basically, it meets every one of my requirements for a Dressy Sweatshirt. If you have your own thoughts on Dressy Sweatshirts, I’d love to hear them.

Workouts for the Week. This is really just to hold me accountable. Also, if I have a bad week, you will see it. I’m 100% aware this plan is too much for my first week of getting back into exercise, but since most of it is walking, not running, it should be doable. I will post my results next week.

• Monday: Transform/Walk 15 Minutes
• Tuesday: Transform/Walk 25 Minutes
• Wednesday: Transform
• Thursday: Transform/ Walk 25 Minutes
• Friday: Transform
• Saturday: Transform/Walk 35 Minutes
• Sunday: Rest