Conversation With Myself

I accidentally crashed my triathlon blog, so this post goes here for now until I get that sorted out.

So I got my tubes tied. I'd been told I would be able to "resume normal activities" within a day. In true medical disaster fashion I was in bed for days with a painful anesthesia reaction, but I knew I probably couldn't resume "normal" activities that soon anyway, because these days my normal is most people's haaayyuuuull no.

8 days post op the annoying tugging feeling with every step was finally subsiding and I decided to go for a walk. Which... included some running. Even though I'd debated being ready for a walk. Cause Type A.

Me that day, wondering WTF is wrong with me...

Skeptical chick is skeptical

The next morning was chilly. Almost cold.  I squeed the squee of a thumbholes addict and rushed to put on my shiny new cool weather running outfit.  The one I had to buy because apparently, running is a thing I do now.

Thumbholes cause spontaneous jazz hands!
(Weight loss to date: 107)

I knew I should be taking it easy but... Mother Nature. She called to me.  I was bursting to run. BURST. ING.

Which, to be honest, is not an emotion with which I am familiar. I'm in it for the cute outfits. And the thumbholes. And I was still taking it easy, right? Riiiiight.

This was the conversation the crazy people who live in my head had that lovely morning:

Newly Minted Runner Chick: ZOMG!! Perfect fall day! We need to ruuuuuuuun! Come on guys let's go let's go let's goooooo!

Post Op Chick: Are we sure about this?

Pragmatic Chick: Let's go slow and see what happens.

NMRC: This feels GREAT!!

Pragmatic Chick: I don't think we should do more than 2 miles. We already decided not to race that 10K next month, no reason to push.

Triathlete Chick & NMRC & Type A Chick: ONLY 2 MILES???

Pragmatic Chick: What say you, body?

Body: I'm up for 3.

NMRC: HELL Yeah!

GPS Lady: total distance, 3 miles

Body: I, um... kinda sorta totally don't want to stop. On account of this is awesome.

NMRC: WOOOOO HOOOO!

Pragmatic Chick: Uh, guys...

Frowny Face Ortho Doc: Didn't I JUST lecture you about being an over achiever?

NMRC: Don't listen to him, we ROCK. We can run forever. We could do that 10K right now if we wanted to!!

GPS Lady: total distance, 4 miles

NMRC: LET'S KEEP RUNNING FOREVAAAAHHHH

Body: She has a point.

Pragmatic Chick: OFFS

Frowny Face Ortho Doc: *throws up hands and stomps away*

Mom Chick: DON'T MAKE ME TURN THIS CAR AROUND

Pragmatic Chick: This is your regular workout distance and you're only 9 days post op. Howz about you get your head out of your ass now?

Thus ended the workout that subtly tipped the scales of my identify from "one who reluctantly runs to calorically finance my martini habit" to "runner."

Summer Party 7 Way Drink Station

I love to entertain, and I've spent the last couple of decades learning from my party planning mistakes. Especially when it comes to cocktails. One of the most surprising lessons I learned is that, when a party guest asks for a drink, you should never just point at a stocked bar and say "help yourself!"

And not for the reason you'd think. Turns out, the average party goer offered free reign will, surprisingly often, opt for a glass of water.  Reasons are all over the place, but in general it's just too overwhelming.

After many years of leftover party beverages and wondering what on earth I was doing wrong, I finally figured out that my guests enthusiastically consumed beverage selections limited in scope, mixed ahead of time and carefully coordinated with the party's theme and menu.  The whole time I'd been trying very hard not to tell them what they had to drink, and apparently what they wanted was for me to tell them what to drink.

Which brings me to this 7 way summertime drink station. I recently threw a casual summer cookout and wanted to offer several refreshing options for both kids and adults with a minimum of fuss, counter space and ingredients. This is what I came up with!

Drink Station Features
Large dispenser of lemonade
Large dispenser of iced tea (unsweetened, brewed fresh)
Squeeze bottle of simple syrup (I do a more saturated 1.5 c sugar / 1 c water)
Bottle of Bushmills Irish Honey (it has to be exactly this)
Bottle of vodka (your preferred brand, not pictured)
Ice bucket (not pictured)

I should also note that I froze portions of the iced tea and lemonade in bundt pans overnight to float in the dispensers. This helped keep it cold much longer, and greatly reduced the constant hassle of restocking the ice bucket.

When I do this again, I'll label the containers and post a list of the combinations above the station to eliminate the need to repeat the explanation as new guests arrive. Because apparently I'm the only one nutty enough to think this is self explanatory.

Drink Combinations
1) Iced tea (unsweetened)
2) Sweet tea (sweetened to taste by guests with simple syrup)
3) Arnold Palmer (half tea, half lemonade)
4) Lemonade
5) Vodka & Lemonade
6) Bushmills & Lemonade (a current favorite)
7) Arnold Palmer & Bushmills*

*I've spent the better part of the last decade in search of the elusive spirit to mix with an Arnold Palmer without tasking like blech. The tea is a tough taste to blend. So when I tried the Bushmills Honey...  it was like a choir of angels singing the Hallelujah Chorus.

As cocktails go, the possibilities are endless. Personally, if I hadn't run out of gin the day before I'd also have added that to the station because gin & lemonade is delightful.

It's no secret that I come from rednecks, so sweet tea and Arnold Palmers are my summertime raison d'etre. But if that isn't your style, just use the concept as a springboard for your own station.

Have you ever done a multi-mix drink station? I'd love to hear what combinations you featured!


Socials
I pinned this post to my Entertaining Inspiration board.

Autism Acceptance And Understanding: Actually Autistic

This wraps up the April 2015 series of informational graphics created to help promote public awareness, acceptance and understanding of autism.

These infomemes were written by an author and autism parent advocate (that would be me). They were then reviewed and contributed to by a number of adults who are #ActuallyAutistic, as well as a number of fellow autism parents (some of whom are also autistic).

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Autism Acceptance and Understanding: Listen Better

This is part of a series of informational graphics created to help promote public awareness, acceptance and understanding of autism.

These infomemes were written by an author and autism parent advocate (that would be me). They were then reviewed and contributed to by a number of adults who are #ActuallyAutistic, as well as a number of fellow autism parents (some of whom are also autistic).

Image Sharing
Sharing these information images is encouraged as we all work to raise visibility, foster acceptance and promote understanding for our loved ones during Autism Awareness Month.

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Autism Acceptance and Understanding: Respect the Stim

This is part of a series of informational graphics created to help promote public awareness, acceptance and understanding of autism.

 

These infomemes were written by an author and autism parent advocate (that would be me). They were then reviewed and contributed to by a number of adults who are #ActuallyAutistic, as well as a number of fellow autism parents (some of whom are also autistic).

Image Sharing
Sharing these information images is encouraged as we all work to raise visibility, foster acceptance and promote understanding for our loved ones during Autism Awareness Month.

From Facebook
Use the share function from my Facebook page for this image post.

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From a blog - Save the image from this post, and post unaltered to your site. Please include an author credit (Michelle Wood of ShesAlwaysWrite.com) and/or a link to this site for appropriate attribution.