iworkout: shoes

let us start from the bottom up, shall we?

Source: google.com.my via howling on Pinterest

clearly if you are starting a workout program, you want good shoes.  the best shoes for YOU.  the best shoes for you MAY NOT be the coolest sneakers at the store that YOU LOVE.  they may be the ugly plain ones, but fit your foot like a glove.  trust me, i am the girl with the ugly plain ones.

true story: a few years ago i trained for a half marathon and was wanting some fun colored tennis shoes to run those 13.1 miles in nashville, tennessee. i like my shoes kinda crazy, i mean might as well have rainbow colored tennis shoes if you can, right? well, when i went to get fitted for shoes, NOT ONE of the pair that my eyes liked were good for my foot. NOT ONE. i left the store with white tennis shoes, white laces and a little blue on the side. BOR. ING. and they fit my foot like a glove.  DARN IT.

that was years ago. i have had three pair of those exact shoes since. they are boring. but they work for my foot the very best.

FITTED: what did you say?  fitted?  
can't i just buy a pair of sneakers i just really like? i mean, they are all pretty much the same right?
NO.

get your foot fitted to the shoe. less chance of injury. less chance of chin splints and the like.  

find the closest fleet feet in your area. everyone that works there has knowledge about the foot and will go from videoing your stride to taking you outside and watching you walk/run to see what your foot does. then they find the shoe that you need. my left foot, for example, turns in so i need a shoe with a substantial sole and more of a foundation on the insides of my foot to keep my left foot from turning in when i workout. I ALWAYS want whatever shoe is neon and the loudest at the store, and like i said - i always leave with nothing i would ever pick. womp womp. but when i am working out and my feet and legs feel great, i kinda want to hug those boring things.

also, did you know your feet really swell when you run/walk/workout? i normally wear a women size 9.5 or 10. usually they fit me for a 11-11.5 MENS running shoes. i mean, honestly? swallow your pride that you may be petite, girl, and just run to the closest rack of cool socks.  

no, really.

always, to make myself feel better for having to get a big ole man shoe, i just buy some great fun girly NEON socks to go with those boring shoes.

the shoes at fleet feet are not higher priced and you get more for your money with their expertise in knowing feet. and if you have any trouble with the shoes, you can return them, no questions asked. i got a wonky shoe a few years ago, just something wasn't right about the shoe. took them back, no receipt and they switched it out, no problem at all.

which ONLY MEANT, since i was there i had to just get more new socks...

this post was not sponsored in any way by fleet feet and is soley (pun intended) my opinion.  also, the picture of the adidas shoes up above are not the boring shoes i was referring to - i just pulled the picture from pinterest.

prayers for oklahoma.

in 1999, a tornado came through my hometown of clarksville, tennessee.  i was in college at the time at the local university, austin peay state university.

i remember going to bed the night before, sitting my alarm to wake up early to go in and take an exam.  i was a live-in nanny at the time.  

i remember tossing and turning all night because of a bad storm.

that was the methodist church where i attended.

i remember getting up and stumbling to the shower in my sleepy state and getting a knock on the bathroom door while i was in the shower.

"jessica.  you don't have school today.  we're not even sure there's a school left."

the campus was in shambles.  the city was devastated. as were the residents.

my hometown woke up looking much different than when i went to bed the previous night.

oklahoma.  you are in my prayers and thoughts.  last night was we celebrated my very best friends birthday with dinner, all i could think about was you.  your people.  your kids.  as we celebrated my best friend, her life, i couldn't help but think about birthdays that were shattered yesterday.

but oklahoma, here's what i learned from tennessee in 1999 - you are resilient.

you still shine and will shine brighter in days to come.

goodness will uprise from your roots.

but in the meantime, i will pray for you.

we will pray for you.

eat your heart out, swiss family robinson.

this weekend, we met brads parents and brother in crossville, tennessee at the largest treehouse in the world for a play date, adult style.  this treehouse was started in 1993 and eleven years later the roof was on, it is really a marvel of talent and is free to play in for as long as you would like.  and really a site to see.













if you live with in driving distance to crossville, tennessee - it really is worth the drive.  and if are part monkey, which i had an inkling brad was, and he confirmed it there, it is even more appealing.
here's some facts about the treehouse:
-built around an 80 ft. white oak with six other supporting trees
-100 ft. to top from lowside
-98 steps to the top
-estimated 8,000-10,000 square feet
-horace (the builder) has put in 236 days and four hours of personal time over eleven years
-a chainsaw was used for all cuts

note:  i would not recommend it for small children, and not for the elderly.  although there are picnic table on the site and a fun swing if you want to keep your feet planted firmly on the ground.

p.s.  also, i did not graffiti my name as you see above.  another jessica did, shame on her.  and my handwriting is much better than that...and i probably would have drawn a flower.  geez.

have you been?  or seen anything like this?  cool, huh?

record store day 2012.

so if you are among the crazies awesome that think getting up and standing in line in the cold and rain for three hours previous to the record stores actually opening on record store day, well i bet you had a really cold, wet morning in nashville but then when you got all those coveted albums that you were in line for...it didn't matter that you were wet and cold.

there's that.

then there's people like me who think that being with my husband is so darn fun that i will brave the elements as well even though there is not one record i want.  call it love.  call it dumb.  i think it's a little of both.

call it a blog.  because that's what it is.  and i have pictures to prove.

record store day in nashville happened for us at grimeys.  and brad happily walked away with all the records on his list.

i walked away with this really cool canvas bag that they put his records in.
i told him i wanted aqua.
he picked yellow.
i like yellow.

back to the basics.

hello nature, it's me jessica.

i have a love hate relationship with electronics and things in this day and age.  i think we have too many "things" and kids (and adults!) can hardly entertain themselves anymore outdoors with just nature.  i think it's a shame. if they are outside they have to have 345,687,567 toys to keep them entertained while outside.  what happened to the days of sticks, and balls and mud pies?  i mean, a little water and dirt...hello entertainment.

so when my friend invited lil bit and myself to the nature center last week, we jumped at the chance.  little did i know, that i would find this gem of a "park" complete with dirt, more dirt, and old used recycled containers for buckets.  it was awesome.  and the large dirt pile...well, it didn't take two seconds for this nanny to throw her arms back like leonardo and say, "i'm queen of the world!" for lil bit to see and do.

monkey see.  monkey do.

i think it is so refreshing to just be.  to just be.  and be outside with nothing and enjoy what god created.  of course, there is nothing wrong with "things" but i want to teach my children and the children that i nanny, that we really do have enough.

nolensville, tennessee

a couple of weeks ago, we made the trek to the barely outskirts of nashville to nolensville, tennessee.  i love going anywhere that deems "out of nashville" because i feel like its extravagant and awesome, you could seriously take me anywhere and i promise i'd be thrilled, i love to travel anywhere.  so nolensville, we headed this saturday, and i was pumped...and i think the "city" consist of one street, possibly a few more, but the main drag...well, they ain't much to it.

what a fun place it was...they had any homemade carb with tons of sugar you could want, and milk from the local dairy.  to eat supper as we like to call it in the south, i call it dinner because i like to think of myself as a civilized southerner.   you paid up front and then went through a buffet line where someone shoveled as much food as your paper plate would hold.


i can spot that guy anywhere.  he probably feels good about himself because there is always a camera in his face, i tell him i am paparrazi, just to make him let me...he falls for it everytime. so if you see him and he wants to sign autographs, just go with it...i've convinced him he's famous.

even dressed as an amish boy...i can find him.

you can run, but you can't hide, buddy.



you can't make this up people, a lady in her hoop skirt coming in to buy her baked goods for the week and then left as quickly as she came in.  i thought possibly, it was me, somehow i went back in time and no one told me.  after all, i had leggins on and uggs, i was the odd man out.

and then this happened...

six feet six worth of travis, all crammed into one little amish fella.