{ back to school }

WHAT?!!? Back to school time already? Every year I think that summer goes by way too fast... I adore having the kids around way more than they are during the school year. At the same time, we have had ZERO routine this summer and I am craving a bit more structure to the day so that I can work more normal hours, work out on a regularly scheduled basis and get the kids to bed earlier. We're going to squeeze in one more camping night, a few more trips to the pool, one zip line adventure, one more day on the river and one night making our own icecream! And then...its back to school time!

Our lives are falling into place as I hoped they would when we made some big decisions earlier this year (to sell LobotoME, to try to sell our rental properties, to get rid of stuff holding us down, etc.) The LobotoME sale/transition happens in early September. We've got 2 more big races to produce this year including our new series which we are super excited about and I've got 2 more races I'm running in. The biz is sold, the airstream isn't sold but we've had fun using it while its still ours, one of our rental properties is listed, we've sold & donated more stuff, we are booked to spend a month this winter in Mexico (cannot wait) and back to school organization has commenced. The kids are going to the same school this year which is awesome and will make life so much easier with one drop off & pick up location.

Anyway, a few quick things while I'm thinking of them and a few things we do to get the kids excited about the new school year.

- While you're stocking up on school supplies, pick up extra while they are on sale for Operation Christmas Child boxes in November.

- While planning your weekly family schedule this fall, we like to not plan more than 2 nights a week where we are at an activity. The kids each get one "non-school activity (eg. soccer, swim lessons, tap lessons, etc.) and Sam gets an additional "afterschool activity" (eg. art class at school, girls volunteer group, etc.) In my opinion, kids are way overscheduled and this has been our families way to combat that by limited the activity each "season" to ONE per week. Here's another post I've written about this topic.

- Visit some of my former posts about healthy school lunch ideas here and here.

- We always give small back to school gifts for teachers {Sanity Saving Kits} - a bottle of smartwater (thanks for making me smart tag), a coffee gift card (hope this year is a latte fun tag), lotion (hope this year goes smoothly for you tag), hand sanitizer, healthy granola snack, Save ME notepad, etc.

- We always have a back to school celebration dinner the night before school starts! I think this is a great way to get kids excited about school, to talk about what their goals are for the school year and what the plan is for school & activities.

- The school fairy always visits our house the night before school starts and leaves the kids a new backpack & lunch box and a first day of school outfit.

image via here.

{ hello }

Hi everyone! Hope you are having a wonderful summer! We are... lots of hiking, swimming, painting, bike riding + adventures!

Wanted to drop in and say that I am super excited to announce that a new, delightful woman (a mom of 2, 3 year old twins) will be taking over the reins of LobotoME beginning this fall (more about this at a later date and a formal introduction to come).

I also wanted to say that a few weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting Kris Carr and hearing her speak at the Mountain Pose Yoga Festival. She said, "Wherever you aren't putting your energy is probably where you need to be putting your energy." I love this and it resonated so well with where I am right now. I felt I wasn't putting enough energy into my health & well-being and keeping my body cancer free and wasn't putting enough energy into my family by running 3 businesses. We are simplifying and going down to 1 1/2 businesses which I feel really, really great about. I'll miss LobotoME dearly but it is the right decision for us as a family. But, don't worry, this isn't goodbye post. It's just a "change is going to be coming" post.

She also spoke during her talk about the necessity of self-care and since that is why I started LobotoME to begin with it feels appropriate to come back to that topic now. I created the momME weekly planner originally so that I would have a constant, visual reminder of the importance of scheduling ME-time/self-care time daily. As a new mom at the time, I was overwhelmed and tired and wondering where the healthy, biking, yoga practicing gal I once was went... So I started scheduling it in...at first a few days a week, then eventually a little bit each day. Some days it was waking up early for some meditation and asana practice. Some days it was a quick 1/2 run or workout while my children napped. Some days it was a bath at 10:00pm after everyone was sleep. Some days it was a Saturday morning yoga class. Some days I even counted a leisurely grocery store trip by myself! :) But, its that everyday practice of self-care, of caring for oneself that is so important. Whatever that looks like to you.

Balance is the place you want to be so that when the bumps come, they don't take you down. It is the place that reminds you that you don't have to do everything. It allows you to act not react. It is the place that tells you when enough is enough. Yes, there are still times I feel overwhelmed. But I am working on being open to help. I am getting better at remembering to breathe.

I hope you are all finding time for some self-care this summer season and its helping you find a more balanced place.

xoxo, jenny

image above from book found here

{ logging off }

“The day is ending, our life is one day shorter.
Let us look carefully at what we have done.
Let us practice diligently,
…Putting our whole heart into the path…
Let us live deeply each moment in freedom,
So time does not slip away meaninglessly.”
~Thich Nhat Hanh

I've decided to take the summer off from blogging, tweeting, facebooking, etc. so I can play as much as possible with the family. I don't want to miss a second of it.

Hope you all have a wonderful summer with your families + friends. xoxo~

{ the spending diet... weeks 13 + 14 }

I think its a very good thing we live in a teeny tiny mountain town where there is not even a Target. We spent the past 2 weeks in cities. Target. Good food. Anthropologie. More good food. Concerts. Lululemon. Geez. Anyway, I managed SOME self-restraint but not enough. I bought Samme some new clothes for next school year at Marshalls (super duper cheap). I bought "hot mama" jeans from a store called hot mama and this top and this dress (which I love love love). I bought this shirt. And this jacket. I bought Henry a new basketball at Target. I bought copious amounts of good food and green smoothies from Whole Foods. I bought Ben Harper concert tix + beer (worth every penny - one of the best live shows we've seen). Dinner + movies on another date night (spoiled with a free babysitter aka grandma). Nieces ballet concert tickets. A trip + tickets to Waterworld. Yikes. Anyway, back home and planning on staying out of stores for the rest of the summer (other than a few back to school purchases for the kiddos in August). How have you all been doing? Have a great weekend ~

{ on my mind }

1. My latest green smoothie fav recipe - coconut water, mango, pineapple, kale and spinach and banana.
2. One of my favorite bloggers is back with a new blog about her families attempt to simplify their lives. I am so on board with this idea right now.
3. Love these products to teach kids about managing money. We made our own save, spend, share jars a few years ago but these are pretty darn cute! And there is a great deal on them on Mamasource today & tomorrow.
4. This post about FOOD and where it comes from and what is in it.
5. Love this post about Rest, Reflection & Renewal from Tsh at SimpleMom.
6. It seems that there are a lot of us stopping our blogs or taking a break this summer or considering some other form of internet sabbatical. I know I am.
7. Another amazing TED talk.
8. My favorite plane ticket buying site.

print and image above via here.

{ cha cha changes... part two }

Love all of the inquiries I'm getting about the sale of LobotoME...I feel very loved and also feel strongly that there is an amazing woman or family that will end up running this show and taking it above & beyond anything I dreamed possible. In the meantime, thank you all for your support!

I ran across this quote the other day and it fit perfectly... “If you are not relishing it, release it.” This speaks to exactly what we are trying to do. Trying to make the tough decision on whether to give up something you previously felt so passionately about is a pretty common thing I presume. But it doesn't make it easy to pull the trigger.

When you own your own small business you do EVERYTHING on your own. I am the designer, marketing manager, and head of PR. I am the website designer and google ad words expert. I am the bookkeeper, accountant, and tax-filer. I am the head of customer service. I am the director of sales. I am the shipping person and warehouse manager. All in about 15 hrs a week when I had daycare. And sometimes I am the CEO of BURNOUT because let’s face it, doing it all yourself is tiring. And doing it times THREE with three businesses and TWO kids equals quadruple burnout.

I’ve always been reluctant to ask for help in the physical world, and now I realize I’ve also been reluctant to ask for help from the spiritual world. But the reality is, I have big dreams for my family that are impossible to achieve without a little help from beyond. So this time I see an opportunity for satya - grace + freedom. This time I’m ready to ask for help. I'm asking for a great woman or family who wants a stay at home business opportunity to find ME. I'm asking for peace in releasing what I built and worked so hard on and poured my soul into. I'm asking for peace and serenity moving forward. And I'm seeking freedom for new adventures for me and my family.

print via here

{ mountain pose }

Mountain Pose happens to be how I start almost all of my at home asana practices (and in the interest of keeping it REAL people, this is what my home practice usually looks like - above). Mountain Pose also happens to be the name of an a.m.a.z.i.n.g NEW yoga + wellness festival happening the second weekend in July at Copper Mountain in Summit County, Colorado. Friends...who wants to meet me there? I'm heading in on Friday mid-day to attend yoga classes ALL day long and then drumroll please...Friday night's session is the ONE, the ONLY, KRIS CARR. I literally cannot wait to see her. So, who's in with me?

{ on my mind }

1. Love her style + home.
2. Great post about meal planning using our Feed ME weekly meal planner.
3. Starting this wellness plan on Wednesday.
4. A great post about being unplugged. Contemplating taking the summer off from blogging, twitter & facebook. I'm quite certain the world, my social life & my business would survive it just fine. ;-)
5. Continually inspired by her.
6. I love Kickstart and this project by a friend.
7. Great post about minimalist finances.
8. Yummy kale chips.
9. The sweetest baby shower.
10. And this post...“Live simply, so that others may simply live.” -Mother Teresa

{ the spending diet...weeks 11 + 12 }

I bought this skirt (on sale). I call it my church skirt. But it is also coming to the beach with me. I needed a slightly longer skirt to wear to church when we go, um, like once a month. (Hey, don't judge, that's way more often than we used to go! When you get ovarian cancer at age 23 you develop a complicated relationship with God). :)

And I bought this bag (in black) for a carry-on for several upcoming trips and the pool trips this summer. I think it will carry my stuff + all of the kids stuff just fine.

We've had a lot of little misc. spending this month - some stuff for the garden; end of the year teacher appreciation gifts; more money on food due to lots of company in town and end of the school year functions; etc. So I'm going to try to be really mindful in June & July. But I'm going to be within a 10-mile radius of a Lululemon and Anthropologie next week. So may the force (or will power) be with me.

{ on my mind }

I haven't posted much about our weekly "helping others" and volunteering work that Samme & I have been doing. But last week, in light of the devastating tornadoes that ravaged the south we gathered supplies and sent some big boxes of stuff off to Convoy of Hope. Here's what they need (I found this list originally here).

Convoy of Hope in Joplin welcomes mailed material donations and are especially needing:

::Box tape
::Plastic totes
::Knee pads and work gloves
::New socks and underwear
::Tylenol and pain medication
::Canned foods
::Things for children: sidewalk chalk, bubbles, bouncy balls, crayons and coloring books, etc.

You can send donations to:

Convoy of Hope
330 South Patterson
Springfield, Missouri 65802

image via lex18.c0m

{ we did it }

Woo-hoo!! My team, The Iron Maidens, finished the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic this past weekend! We had so much fun (especially at the finish line eating well-deserved cupcakes & drinking beer). We started as a team and finished as a team and I don't think I could have slogged over that last mountain pass without them! The 50 mile/half-century race started in downtown in downtown Durango at 6,500 ft and climbed to Purgatory Ski Area at 8,879 feet and then onto Coal Bank Pass (10,660 feet) and then summit Molas Divide Pas at 10,899 feet then a fast descent down into Silverton finishing at 9,318 feet. It was a beautiful day and the sun was shining with clear blue skies. It was impossible to not be smiling while riding our bikes over the San Juan Mountains. And my teammates were there for me when I bonked part way up the last & final pass. I kept saying to myself I can do this, we can do this. We are almost there. I am almost to the top. And we did it! note to self: a bit more training would have helped. ;-)

So what is it that YOU'VE been wanting to do but think you can't or think its too hard? Just do it. Sign up for it with some friends. Schedule it in. It's go time people. We aren't getting any younger and life isn't getting any longer. GO!

{ on my mind }

stressed out is what is going on in my mind this week. i was sick most of april (with this annoying dry cough that wouldn't/won't go away...the kids have had a stomach flu thing on & off the past 2 weeks and have been at home and not at school or daycare) so i haven't gotten an iota of work (or training done). it rained + snowed all of last week so i couldn't ride & train. i pulled my hamstring and am limping around with 5 days to go until the big race.

anyway, i've been trying to come up with some solutions to the (MY) stresses. stresses which I realize in the grand scheme of things are pretty small.

i've got the big bike race this weekend which i've barely trained for (ouch) but am going to hammer it out anyway. i raised over $2500 towards Livestrong & our local breast cancer center. thanks to all of you who generously donated. and i'm not going to quit now.

my garden is full of weeds and nothing else and i decided that is the way it is staying this year. i will buy my spinach, kale & tomatoes from the farmers market. a year off from my garden won't kill anyone.

i didn't get into any of the marathon lotteries i tried for and none in drive distance work out timing wise for me, so i'm putting that off until next year (it's a relief actually). and its okay.

i've got tons of people interested in buying LobotoME (and i just need to be patient) even though I'm ready to be DONE.

interested people in the camper have fallen through (again, i just need to be patient).

I keep trying to remind myself that SIMPLIFICATION doesn't happen overnight. in will ferrell's case it did, but you know he's will ferrell. i cannot wait to see this movie.

i also keep reading this quote. it speaks to me so much right now. "This is what endurance means to me right now. This is what I’m training for. It’s the ability to show up and keep up. It’s the ability to persevere when I’m tired. It’s the ability to sustain a good mood when I’m fading. It’s the ability to be there and mark moments with my precious kiddos while they still want to mark moments with me." ~ Kristin Armstrong ---- isn't that a great quote?

so that's what I'm going to do this week. show up & keep up. smile when i'm fading. be present with my kids. all else will fall into place.



image above via pinterest

{ the spending diet... week 9 + 10 }

Hmmm... Okay, no beating around the bush. Here's what I've acquired so far this month.

1. Four $1 bubblewands for the kids. (See if I start with the small and inconsequential perhaps you'll get bored and not read on...and see how bad I've been)...
2. This skirt. Adorable. Probably will wear it everyday this summer.
3. A grey & white striped tank top from Target. Can't find it on the website but it was $8.
4. This cute summer dress. It has pockets! :)
5. A pair of Lululemon Astro Crops off of ebay. Love them.
6. New pair of bike capris (with extra padding) for the LONG bike race coming up memorial day weekend. My butt has been KILLING me after long rides, so I think this falls in the necessary category.

That's all. Back to saving for this.

{ on my mind }

“Waking up this morning, I smile.
Twenty-four brand new hours are before me.
I vow to live fully in each moment …”
~Thich Nhat Hanh

1. Loved this post.
2. And this post.
3. And this post about planning a summer schedule.
4. And this post about living a mindful lifestyle.

Have a great day & an awesome week!

{ on my mind }

1. Love this idea for a teacher appreciation gift!
2. This post is amazing.
3. I gave a big amen sister after reading this post.
4. This is brilliant.
5. Really want to see this film.
6. Great toddler activities list compiled by Marta.
7. And this great post on what it really means to take care of yourself. This really resonated with me.

Hope all of you mama's had a wonderful Mother's Day! I certainly did! Breakfast in bed - green smoothie ;-), snuggles, homemade goodies from the kids, more snuggles, a long bike ride, brunch with my parents and a relaxing evening at home....perfect!

{ cha cha changes }

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. As you simplify life the laws of the universe will be simpler." - Henry David Thoreau

We've been figuring some LIFE stuff out lately...or attempting to at least. The one thing we have concluded is that 2 kids + 3 businesses + 2 rental properties + 2 work from home parents = chaos. With that said, and without going into the whole long story...we have decided to start the process of selling LobotoME. We hope to be able to have it sold by early 2012. We've had some interest in the past but I wasn't ready to part with it, but now I am. It's been a great four years...our products have been in Real Simple Magazine, on E!News and in The Container Stores nationwide. It grew far wider & larger than I ever dreamed possible. I hope I've helped many of you find systems to help you & your families stay fit, healthy, organized + sane... But its time for me to move on. I've spent four years cultivating something that needs my constant attention. And I'm ready to put that attention elsewhere.

Anyway, I wanted to let you all know that some changes will likely be in store for LobotoME and also see if perhaps any of you stay at home or work at home mama's might be interested in taking over the reins of this eco-friendly paper goods company... email me if you are interested (serious inquiries only please at least until I have my broker lined out then you can bug him all you want). Bottom line is this will allow me to focus more on our main business, my health and my family...I'm grateful for all of your past & continued support & enthusiasm...And don't worry I'm not totally disappearing, I'm just putting this sale of the business out to the universe right now and seeing what happens. Whatever happens, LobotoME will continue with or without moi.

We also decided to put one of our rental properties on the market...anyone interested in a condo in beautiful, sunny Moab, Utah? The other property in Durango will go up for sale next spring we think. Dealing with renters isn't all that it is cracked up to be. I'll leave it at that. And we've listed our beloved Airstream (upon hearing about this plan, Samme said that it is "unacceptable" to sell it) that we don't have very much time to use during the summer...Oh and we're selling our piano that the kids don't play on and have no interest in. We are getting rid of all of the things that are weighing us down.

We are making some massive changes to our lives...all of which will allow us to spend more time together, to travel more, to work less and play more...

xoxo~

{ on my mind }

1. Have I introduced you to my new favorite blog?
2. This has me all sorts of fired up.
3. This is one of the best parenting posts I've read in a long time and so right on.
4. And love everything about this inspiring post via Zen Habits (of course).
5. And of course the big news...


Love this print above via etsy. This is the quote that is at the top of our momME weekly planners

{ the spending diet...weeks 7 + 8}

What can I say? It's confession time but I think I did pretty darn good the 2nd half of the month... The only non-essential things I bought were this PERFECT shirt for Henry and this new yoga DVD for ME. And I'm still on a mission selling misc. stuff on ebay and craigslist. How y'all doing?

{ on my mind }

A friend sent me this quote the other day and I fell in love with it...

"May today there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others. May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content with yourself just the way you are. Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us."

{ on my mind }

1. Great road tripping with kids tips.
2. Based upon this Henry is going to be at least 6'5'' - which is a very good thing because all he wants to do is play basketball. But this also means he likely will be taller than me by age 7.
3. Very interesting.
4. Handy Household tips.
5. Hilarious.
6. Going to make these this week.
7. And can we all give a big {amen} for this article.
8. Last week spent fighting off a nasty cold so didn't work out except for hot yoga class last night - I thought I'd sweat it out of me. Remains to be seen whether that was smart or not. Planning on getting some big road bike rides in this week (fingers crossed) and lots more yoga. Four weeks til the big race. Ouch.

Hope you all have a great week! GO!