RNichols Stationary -The Commoner's Favorite Things

Let's be clear-I am not a fan of Oprahs.  I don't like her giving me advise because she's a single billionaire. How can she possibly know what to tell me to do.  But-we share a lot of the same tastes.  Too bad I don't have her money to finance them.

One of her past favorite things are note cards from a company called R. Nichols out of Orlando.  Anyone who knows me knows I'm a big stickler for Thank You notes.  I pretty much send thank you notes to you if you pass me and say hello-or don't harass me for something.  I'll probably send you a thank you for that.  

I'm also big on birthday cards although I suck at keeping up with them.  You may sometimes get a card from me other times-not so much.  It's very random but that is what makes them fun!

Any who.  I found these note cards and I love them.  People know I love things that represent New York and they make these great cards.

I love shopping and I love NYC-(I avoid cabs however-subway and feet are my favorite).  Sometimes I'm in a San Francisco state of mind.  So when I am?  R-Nichols makes these

You may have received these from me.  They are flat and I write on the front -whatever message I need.  I couldn't have designed them better myself.

Because sometimes A Facebook Thank You isn't enough.  The commoner presents her favorite stationary www.R-nichols.com 
These are just two of their designs, they have many of all kinds of themes.  

Check them out and then send me one thanking me for the tip!

Clark Shoes-The Commoner's Favorite Thing

This year I raced a marathon.  That was great.  This year I got Planter' Fascitis-I know you've heard about this right?  It was the total focus of my life.   It was a nice diversion from the ungodly amount of work I had for my Masters Program and my temporary not temporary job.

Now Planters took over my life.  I would wrap the foot, ice the foot, massage the foot, compress the foot, cry, whine, hobble, I did all of these.

I looked like this soccer dude but none was helping me walk.

The one thing about my foot was that I now needed supportive, comfortable shoes and that brings me to Clarks.

I already had a vast collection of these from QVC and they are pretty nice for comfort shoes but when you wear them in my size they tend to look like this.

But I have to say I've learned to love them and they make some pretty nice styles even for me.  The arch support is fantastic and my foot was ALWAYS happy when I wore them.

So today the commoner gives you her favorite shoe

Dresses-The Commoners Favorite Thing

This year I decided would be the year of the dress.  Everyone knows when I do something I don't mess around.  I must wear dresses 3 of the 5 work days a week.  I love them.  Here's why.

I'm not a fan of dressing down for work.  You can ask anyone. They always ask on dress like a slob Friday why I don't dress down.

I can't.  I can't teach and I especially can't really do my temporary not temporary job that I currently have dressed like this.  

When I was in the classroom if I dressed down I really only wanted the kids to color all day.  Heck I wanted to color with them. I'm dressed down -cocoa and coloring are called for.

When I wear a dress I always look put together because duh-as long as you pick the right shoes you are good.  They are good in the summer when it's hot and better in the winter with tights and boots. You know what else? They are the MOST comfortable thing you can wear.

So you I love to wear Jeans people?  You must feel all binded in the legs in that denim.  I have big runner thighs, before that I had big fat thighs, before that I had big cyclist thighs.  Jeans hurt.

Dresses-comfy-cozy, classy.  

So today?  My favorite thing is dresses  and YES I am wearing one tomorrow.

IPOD Shuffle -The Commoners Favorite Thing

It's December and that means it's time for my favorite things!  I may be repeating some I'm not sure.  I honestly don't have time to do the research into that.  

I can't give you my favorite things but ask Oprah.  Maybe she can help you out.

I'm starting with something I absolutely love.  I'm a little nostalgic about it because it was the first ever Apple Product I owned before I owned every Apple product.  

Here's why I love it!

Yes that is what it looks like, but mine is purple.  
Here's the story.

I always listened to my running list on my my IPhone when I ran.  I spent months perfecting that list.  But as my marathon training kicked in my IPhone battery couldn't handle the amount of time I needed it to run and the battery would inevitably die.

I knew for the marathon I needed something to get me through the last hour of my run and here is this 45 dollar jewel which I now take with me on EVERY run.

I programmed it to play only the best of my running list.  It's so light and small I hook it to my waste band and off I go.  Hopping through songs is easy and so is adjusting the volume.  So on runs when I'm bored I can play DJ while I run and not miss a step.

Loading the playlist is easy and charging is too.  If you work out?  You need this.  It's one of my favorite things.

Who Knew?

Happy Thanksgiving from The Commoner

It is almost December which means it is time for My Favorite Things-just like Oprah only better!

So until then I'm eating turkey, shopping, and writing papers.  Yes and running.  

I'm so thankful all of the Phillips will be together tomorrow.  So eat up and have a great Thanksgiving Commoners.

Also if you had a favorite thing this year?  Let me know!

The Commoner and Her People

When the commoner took on her midlife crisis -it was no ordinary mid life crisis.  It was not common.  It involved running a marathon.  It involved going through a masters program.  It turned out to involve a job change.  Not many people do MLC (mid life crisis) like I do.  But then most people don't do anything like I do.

But I've over extended myself and if it weren't for the kindness of others I could never have achieved this Academy Award.

First of all there are all of you who put up with listening to me (by listening I mean reading) talk about running.  Recently the Wall Street Journal basically told all of us runners to shut up already.  But if you guys had not been there when running was bad and boring I never would have gotten to the place where running was good.  

I am fiercely independent.  I like to figure things out for myself and I don't like to ask for help or rely on other people.  I've stepped (okay fallen) into a new position at work.  The learning curve was steep -or whatever you say when it means you had to learn fast.  Thanks to all the people who have put up with my stupid questions or the fact that I've had to do things more than once to get them right.  Thanks also to the people who stepped up to fill positions I couldn't do any longer and thanks MOSTLY to the families that I work with for their understanding.  

If it weren't for all of them-I would be in big trouble.  The support and good will they've extended goes so far in making me feel something-not sure what-but it's a good feeling.

So I've gone back to school.  Who does that?  I spend most evenings doing two hours of homework.  Reading articles which usually all sound the same-and in fact sometimes are.  Writing papers, citing evidence.  There have been a lot of people who have helped.  Most of these people are my teachers so they will never read this.

There are people who I know in real life too who have helped.  There are friends who are experts in the fields I am studying who actually dive in there and give of their time and expertise -HEY LILIA!!  There are people who help when I need to run right out the door with the bell and drive to San Jose.  You are all awesome.

There's no rubber stamping of a degree here, it's all blood, sweat, and tears.  Like a marathon.

But mostly my family and my dogs have been great.  Most nights I don't get to make dinner and there's hardly any hanging out time or cleaning time-as my son the Master of Arms for the US Navy pointed out.  Everyone's patience doesn't go un noticed.

So thanks everyone who helps me every single day.  Thanks everyone for joining me on the journey of my mid life crisis.  Happy Thanksgiving.

The Marathon After the Marathon

Remember this day?

I thought that glorious day was the end of the marathon training.   But really?  The training had just begun.

Yes I ran Nike Women and that was great.  But my body was tired and my shoes were old.  Just because you spend a lot of money on running shoes doesn't mean they will last twice as long.

(The skinny guy on the right was my guy FYI)

Anyway-Little did I know that my body would have a complete breakdown after that race.

It started with a slight ache in my foot that lasted for two weeks.  I took the time off to adjust to -yes my new temporary or not temporary position at work -and to get my foot better.  When I couldn't quite get to 100% I finally called a podiatrist.   I hedged the bet and chose one not in San Jose but just out of Hollister in Gilroy.

He told me I had the P word.

I know I don't have a full blown case.  It will not mark the end of my running career.  It marks the beginning of treating my foot like it's a VIP and making sure that I take care of it.  

Compression, taping, wrapping, inserts.  and sensible shoes.

The next day I felt better, only then I came down with a mysterious fever that wouldn't go away.  For 3 days I couldn't eat, I just fell in and out of consciousness.  I always beat fevers-no problem.  But I couldn't.  I seriously had to take large doses of Advil.  Every time I took them I said a prayer in case I died but I didn't.  

I had an infection.  Which went away.

So finally one month later-I'm back on my feet in shiny new Asics trying to get my groove back.

Lessons learned?  

• It's a lot to ask your body to do all that I asked it to do in the month of October.  
• If you don't rest your body your body will make you rest it.
• Speed work is not worth it.  Every time I run fast I suffer an injury.
• Even though Asics cost 3 times the price of your discontinued Nikes-they only last the same amount of time.
• When you take running away from a runner-they are gong to run any way.
• Sensible shoes are still ugly

The after the marathon marathon in a lot of ways has been harder than the marathon training itself.