Best of

It's been a while, yet again. My manfriend came to visit, and when he visits I don't write much. I don't take many pictures because he takes so many pictures, and for some reason there seems less to write about. When I get pictures from the last week back from him, I'll be sure to post them - we did some fun things while he was here.

I decided to do a "best of" post today, a simple post about some things I found fun, interesting, or even silly over the past week and a half, and that I just want to share.

First of all, the Boston Marathon was on Monday, and although the elite Kara Goucher didn't win, she did set a personal record for herself which is amazing in itself because she had a baby last fall. Wow!

Two bloggers that I follow also ran Boston. Small Town Runner ran even after an injury, so she did an amazing job, although I know it wasn't the performance she wanted. You can read about her race experience here and here.

Skinny Runner did two marathons last week - the exclusive Gansett marathon and then Boston two days later. She's crazy. You can read about her Gansett experience here and Boston here.

My running? Not so elite or exclusive. Well, it's exclusive because I run by myself with Lucy. She's the exclusive member of my exclusive running club. We only met twice last week for really short runs, but we keep it like that to keep it exclusive. That's just how it is.

But really, I'm hoping to be building up again. I've been lazy, and I know it's mostly all in my brain. I know I can run much farther and many more miles, I just have to convince myself of that while I'm running. It needs to happen because Manfriend loves foods and desserts even more than I do, and if he's eating chocolate cake....

Said manfriend left yesterday on a plane back to go home, but before he did that we headed to the Scripps Aquarium in La Jolla.

 While it was nice, and there were a lot of fish to see, I think we both agreed that it was not as good as the Newport Aquarium on the Oregon Coast (which at one point owned Keiko, the whale from the Free Willly movies, and you know that was a big deal to me as a kid).

After the Aquarium we went to a great little restaurant called Prep Kitchen and enjoyed a lunch on their patio. We tried to find a park to hang out at it, but apparently everyone else in San Diego thought it'd be fun to go to the park in La Jolla yesterday as well, so we had to drive down to Pacific Beach to even find a parking spot next to a park. But we did. Then I put that man on a plane.

Any and all exciting adventures that were had last week will have to wait to be told, but I will tell you right now that we did play Connect Four, and although I think the score was 9-1 (him), I did win thumb wrestling later on. In case you need a reminder about how cool Connect Four is:


And on a completely unrelated side note that must be written because I am from Portland, I give to you the website Dads: The Original Hipsters (a little bit of questionable content included).

Have a great Easter.  

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who bring good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of salvation, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion 'Your God reigns'". Isaiah 52:7.

Thrifty

I grew up thrift store shopping. I didn't mind it as a kid, thought it was extremely embarrassing as a pre-teen and early teenager, and then finally embraced it in my late teens. A lot of people blow them off because they don't want to spend the time going through the racks, and I can understand that. However, I'd say about 40% of my clothes are second hand, and I'll bet you money that nobody even knows. Except that I tell everyone. On my blog. On the internetz.

You think American thrift stores are bad? Check out what they got going on in Mexico - the globos. The globos is the traveling market, that comes to your town on a specific day of the week. On that day people set up tables in the neighborhood streets and sell a variety of things: Produce, new clothes, crafts, music, herbal remedies, and a whole lot of used clothing.

Except, it's all piled on tables, in no particular organized fashion. You just dig through a pile of clothes. I used to think I couldn't handle it, being the type of person who loves organization, but through the advice of a friend - I got into it. I have learned to look at the fabrics. Gauzy? No thank you, I never wear gauzy. Bright orange? Whatever it is, I'm not going to wear it. It's actually a pretty fascinating skill when you can look at the hem of a jean and realize it's probably American Eagle, Old Navy, or the Gap. At that point, you pull out the jeans from the pile to see if you like the style, the size, and the length. By the way - no dressing rooms at the globos.

With all I've learned from thrifting and from globeando (which is actually a word a church friend said to me!), here are my Tips for Being an Awesome Thrifter Just Like Meghan.

Tips for Being an Awesome Thrifter Just Like Meghan.

#1 - Do not go with something specific in mind. You're going to be disappointed. Saying to yourself "I would really like to get a blue, yellow, and white blouse with buttons up the front" really just means you might as well stay home. Instead you just have to know what you would like to have, in a general statement, such as "I will look at jeans, blouses, and sweatshirts". This is, of course, only applicable if you talk to yourself before you go shopping, like I obviously do.


#2 - Know what works, and what doesn't. Guess what? If it doesn't usually work, it probably won't work this time, either. I've made this mistake before, thinking "hey... this is cute, and cheap, and nice looking, it might work" and then I waste my time trying it on and, just like the last shirt exactly like it, it doesn't work. I know for myself that I don't buy capris because they look hideous on me, polo shirts hate me, and there is only one style of Levi's that actually fit me. I do not try these things on, thinking that they'll work this time. Cap sleeves? In my dreams. It's not happening. Put it back on the rack, Meghan.

#3 - Look in different sizes. I know, I know, you think you're a size 8. Well, guess what? In Gap you're a 10, and in Old Navy you're a 6. And in junior's you're an Extra-Large. Seriously, it's a crazy sizing world out there, and you better brace yourself for trying on something with a number you don't like. 

#4 - You gotta really love it. If you are standing in the dressing room going, "it's okay, but I can't believe it's only $4, so I'm going to get it", then you need to quit thrift store shopping. This has happened to me too many times in the past, and I don't let it happen anymore. Spending $4 on a shirt you're not ever going to wear does not make it cheap.

#5 - Use your time wisely. I can spend an extreme amount of time in a good thrift store because I like to look at everything. But, using that skill learned at globos, I now usually scan the racks because I know what types of fabrics I'm looking for.

#6 - Take your mom with you so you can get the seniors' discount. I'm not kidding.