My First Skirt...

I'm a firm believer in clothes make a person. Not so much that everyone should be strutting around wearing designer clothes that cost an arm and a leg, but in that when you wear the right outfit for the occasion it can totally MAKE that occasion. Imagine if a bride showed up for her wedding in a bath robe, she probably wouldn't exactly feel like she was getting married, right? For example, I'm sure that when a Doctor puts on that white lab coat that they FEEEEEEEL like a doctor. Or when the Police Officer puts on their uniform that they get in "police officer" mode. Sure, they are still doctors or police officers without the clothes, but you see what I'm getting at here, right? When they put on those things that are very much the right clothes for the occasion, it puts them in a certain mindset. I know when I get dressed for my job and I am wearing a skirt, heels, accessories - I am more apt to act like an office professional than if I was sitting here at the desk in my yoga pants and tee shirt.

I believe the same is true when it comes to working out. Not only is it important to have clothes that will meet the form and function requirements of a workout, you want something that is going to give you that extra bit of OOMPH that will help keep you going when the workout gets tough. I know that when I feel like I look good while I'm working out, I try a little harder. It's like putting on the uniform and knowing that they are the right clothes for the occasion and now it's time to get them sweaty! LOL

But for someone that also enjoys feeling like a girl and enjoys how much more power I have when I'm fierce AND feminine, finding the right clothes for THAT job can be tough sometimes...that is until I got my FIRST SKIRT!!!

That is my very first Skirt Sports skirt right there and it changed the way I looked at workout clothes! I had just become a runner and was still buying my workout clothes at Walmart and was never quite feeling like they fit right, felt right, or made me feel pretty! I was getting lots of colors and styles, but it just wasn't doing the trick. I still felt all frumpy and like the parts I really wanted to "hide" were way too much on display! (Raise your hand if you're feeling me on that one. hahaha)

But then I saw a special Active Advantage deal to get 50% off of a running skirt with Skirt Sports. I hadn't heard of Skirt Sports and really didn't know that running skirts even existed, but as soon as I checked out the deal and saw those hot pink shorts under a black skirt I knew I had to have it!!! I mean, come on, form, function, feminine AND something that offered some decent coverage while also allowing me to not be covered from head to toe in hot, sweaty clothes through a SoCal summer??? Yes, Please!!!

My first skirt in action at the Menifee 5k!

And that's where my love affair with Skirt Sports began...but it certainly isn't where it ended! I purchased that first skirt in probably 2010 and it is a precursor to the Gym Girl Ultra, called the Kickstart. A thigh slit on the right side to show off those hot pink shorties that don't budge, flattering black, perfect length, and pockets on both legs. Absolute PERFECTION!! And imagine my happiness when I realized that they didn't just have awesome skirts - they also have capris and shorts and tops and bras and so much more!

I consider myself a true convert - I never would have imagined that I could feel feminine while pounding pavement, or that I could go from run to breakfast or errands and be perfectly okay with it! Never mind that I could wear my workout clothes to my office job on casual Friday and feel like I'm not just looking the part, but wearing it well! Finding my first skirt has led me to feeling like a different person when I workout - I'm not wearing the uniform of a gym rat, I'm wearing the uniform of a fashionista that just happens to also be running in clothes that have fit, form, function AND style!

If you want to fall in love with Skirt Sports too, use code 344GRIM for 15% off at skirtsports.com.

Relationships and Regrets...

I finally watched the movie The Family Stone and one of my big takeaways from it was how the things we won't regret at the end of the day are things, but would be memories forgotten or relationships that weren't what we wanted them to be.

The scene that got me the most was when one of the (adult) daughters lays down next to her mom that is napping and cuddles behind her and then the mom cradles her face lovingly. And what got me was that I wish I had that relationship with my own mom and my own daughters. Family relationships and dynamics are such an interesting thing. My mom was not a very outwardly loving mom - I think it was just because her own parents weren't as well. We live what we are taught, right? And it was different back then as far as family relationships go. Dads were the disciplinarians and Moms were the housewives; everyone had a role and were expected to live within that role. I have always known that my mom loves me, but we didn't have that close relationship where I could talk to her about boys or tell her my hopes and fears that would cause us to laugh and cry together. There weren't a lot of hugs and the words I Love You weren't very often said.

I have two daughters and I feel like I have close relationships with them, but I can't help but wonder if I passed down the same, to a little lesser degree, space between us. I don't know how else to capture that; not sure there's a word for it. We talk; they know they can come to me for anything and we have a lot of great conversations that incorporate hopes and fears and boys. But I wish that I had just a little bit MORE and I wonder if there's something I could have, or should have, done while raising them to change that. Did I tell them that I love them enough? Did I hug them enough? Was I loving enough? Did they always know that I had no expectation other than that they be healthy and happy or did they feel like  if they show what is underneath the surface that it would surely be disappointing?

Spoiler alert - in the movie the Mom has cancer and is going to die. This makes me think about how if we knew that we only had a limited amount of time with someone, would it change how we behave with them? I would have to think that it would. We would want to hold them a little tighter, love them a little harder, share with them a little more of ourselves, appreciate a little more of them. We would want to know their life story so that when they are gone we could hold onto the pieces of them that made the whole. The childhood stories, the first loves, first kiss, the feeling of holding us as a baby in their arms for the first time. We would want to be able to know and store those inside of us. So why don't we do more to capture that in daily life???

I guess my primary point is why do we wait until time is finite to live it? Why do we take relationships for granted until they are no longer there? There is so much heartbreak in this world and we don't always know when we have our last moments with someone. Sometimes, where illness or old age is involved, we know that time is short. But there are other times that there's nothing to broadcast that THIS IS IT - you better tell those people you love that you love them because you're not going to get another chance.

So don't wait for when there isn't any more time. Do it now. Tell the people you love that you love them. Breathe in their stories, hug them tighter, love them harder, ask them about their hopes and fears.

Live like you may not get a tomorrow and make memories that will be there long after the moment has passed!

Be blessed, my friends, and make today count!

 <3 xoxoxoxox <3