White Halloween?

Happy Halloween!

After the freak snow on Thursday -- this is what we woke up to Sunday morning:

Yup, lots of snow. Fortunately, Sunday was a warm-ish and sunny so we were all able to be outside a lot and actually enjoy the crazy October snow. And, even more fortunately, lots and lots of the snow melted.

But, not before Owen and Conal made a cute Jack O'Snowman:

He lasted maybe a hour or two and then he melted and the poor Jack O'Lantern that they had carved came crashing down and smashed into pieces. Bummer.

Today, we have the Halloween parade and party at preschool and then trick-or-treating and pizza with friends this evening. We've been getting together on Halloween with the same group for three years or so and it has become a nice little tradition.

What isn't a tradition, however, is having snow on Halloween. White Halloween? That's a little weird. But, it's all cool. Conal has informed me that the roads and front walks are all clear of snow, so we shouldn't have any problem trick-or-treating. He's pretty excited about Halloween this year because he knows what to expect a little more than he did last year.

He was also really excited about being "Boo'ed" by a friend then and "Boo'ing" one of our neighbors. Saturday evening we were Boo'ed -- one of Conal's little pals dropped off a bag of goodies, rang the doorbell, and ran. This was our first time being Boo'ed so it was all new to my little guy. Yesterday, we made up a Boo bag and walked up the hill to one of our neighbor/friend's house and Conal was giddy the whole way. When we got to their house, we set the bag in front of their door and Conal did a great job ringing and running.

I just hope I haven't set him up for a future of pranking. Yikes!


Anyway, it was a nice weekend and we're looking forward to a fun day.

Do you have fun Halloween plans? 


Enjoy the day! And remember to enter my Rudi's Organic Bakery giveaway if you haven't already. It ends tonight!

~ Felice 

Five things Friday.

1. The snow hit us early this year. This is the scene from my front door this morning:

And here's my little goofball, getting in on the photo action:

We got about TWO INCHES of snow. Wet, heavy snow. Conal is excited. Me? Not so much. But if there is one thing I've learned in all my years, it's that complaining about the weather is not only boooooooring, it is fruitless. You simply cannot control or change the weather. So, snow it is. Too early, but it is what we have. Let's hope it melts quickly!

2. I was not up for running in the snow last night so I hit the treadmill and ran some repeats. 6 x 400 at 7:12 pace. And I only had to hop off twice to console my crying toddler! Win!

3. Yesterday, I had a GREAT doctor's appointment. I am trying out a holistic practice and so far, so good. The nurse I met with yesterday was considerate, took her time with me, asked lots of questions, and seemed very understanding and knowledgeable. I'm hopeful!

4. I'm running a 10K in two weeks so I need to break out of my 4-5 mile rut. That's about all I've been doing since the half marathon. Pick it up, Happy Runner!

5. If you haven't entered my Rudi's Organic Bakery giveaway yet, please do! You can check it out HERE.

I hope you all have a great weekend! I have another giveaway coming up this weekend so be sure to check back.

~ Felice

Rudi's Organic Bakery (review and giveaway).

I promised you a giveaway and here it is!

Sometimes I get lucky and I'm asked to review and host giveaways for products I love. Rudi's Organic Bakery products are such products. 

(My all-time favorite Rudi's product? The Honey Sweet Whole Wheat. Try it. You'll love it. I swear!)

I think Rudi's bread is delicious and I appreciate that it is organic, since I try to serve my family organic foods as much as possible.

For this review, I was sent two loaves of bread: One Cinnamon Raisin and one Rocky Mountain Sourdough. They are both really tasty! Cinnamon Raisin bread is a favorite of my two boys so having them try out the Rudi's Cinnamon Raisin was a true test for the bread. 

When I opened the package, I was a little worried. The bread is dark and dense -- very different from the other cinnamon raisin bread I normally buy. Fortunately, my 4-year old was unfazed. The color and density didn't bother him one bit and he chowed down on the bread and enjoyed it! Yup, a hit!

Buy it!

You can't always find Rudi's Organic Bakery products at every grocery store. Near me, it is available at my local co-op. You can find out where to buy Rudi's products by using the locator tool on their web site HERE. You can also download a $1 off coupon HERE.

Win it!

One lucky reader will win TWO coupons for a free loaf of bread (that's two free loaves!) and two Rudi's sandwich boxes:

To enter, leave me a comment and let me know that you want to win!

Additional entries:

As always, you can gain extra entries. Remember, though, you must complete the required entry first! (Leave one comment per entry for the additional ones to count):

• Follow this blog, or let me know that you already do (leave a comment) 
• Become a fan of The Happy Runner on Facebook, or let me know that you already are (leave a comment) 
• Link to this giveaway from Facebook or Twitter (do as often as you'd like, just leave a comment each time) 
• Like Rudi's Organic Bakery on Facebook -- tell them The Happy Runner sent you! (leave a comment)
• Link to this giveaway from your blog (leave a comment) 

This giveaway will run through Monday, October 31st at 11:59pm EST and the winner will be announced on Tuesday.

Good luck!

~ Felice

Review/giveaway disclosure: I was sent two loaves of bread to review. I was not otherwise compensated and the opinions expressed are entirely my own.

And then I took a break.

 . . . from just about everything, except some great girlfriends and FUN.

That's right. Last weekend I left my husband and two boys and headed north to Lake Placid with nine of my wonderful friends. We had a blast! Words cannot describe the fun. For real.

We ate. We drank. We laughed. We danced. A lot.

Seems the only thing we didn't do much of was sleep. But who needs sleep when you're having that much fun? Not us, apparently.

This was us, Saturday night when we hit the town:

Someone -- not us -- had a huge limo.
We thought we were pretty hilarious posing in front of it.

 

Everyone has to have a "caught by the paparazzi" shot, no?

All of us!
Bridget, Monique, Lisa, Stacey, Kara, Karyn, the bartender (!), Gina, Janis, me, Jen

It was . . . worth it. Worth everything. To get a away with good people and have fun moment after fun moment is one of the best things ever. This weekend was the first time I'd ever been away from Niall for any extended amount of time and I admit I was nervous. But, he had stopped nursing on Tuesday and had done well with Owen putting him to bed on Wednesday and Thursday so I had hope that everything would be fine.

And, of course, it was. My guys had a good weekend together without me. That's important, too. Boys need long periods of time with their dads -- without mom butting-in all the time. Ha!

Oh, and, yes. If you're wondering, I did run. Saturday morning Bridget and I went out for a nice little run around town and Mirror Lake. It was beautiful and the smell of pine trees was invigorating. This happy runner can't possibly go out of town and not run! Just doesn't happen.

*     *     *

On another note . . . thank you all so much for your comments on my Lyme-ish post. I really appreciate all of your kind words. I tried to really put that whole situation out of my mind while I was away and I mostly succeeded. Sure, all of my symptoms are bugging the heck out of me now but, again, the weekend of fun was worth it all.

I hope you all had a great weekend, too. Giveaway tomorrow -- check back!

~ Felice