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Having drop-in child care near me when we needed it most was such a relief. Here’s the quick story on how I came to feel this way.

I’m so glad there are so many summer activities for kids out there! We all look forward to summer time, but with kids out of school, summer can sometimes feel really long. There’s nothing that annoys me more than when my kids tell me they’re bored.

I’ve been ignoring the inevitable for awhile now. It’s probably been at least five years since I’ve needed to wear glasses, for distance, but I’ve refused. My husband (who has perfect distance vision) has been giving me the hardest time. I regularly ask him to tell me what the TV says or what time the clock reads. Ugh, ok. I officially need glasses!

How are you celebrating Memorial day? We’re getting together with some friends. I have a feeling there will be some grilling and imbibing. I’m not a huge drinker, but when I do have a drink, I like it to be fruity. To highlight some of the best produce of the summer, I created this blueberry watermelon smash cocktail.

It’s officially berry season, and I couldn’t be happier. I love when I can get fresh berries at the supermarket for under a dollar. It feels like such a win. My family loves most fruit, but my daughter especially loves fresh blueberries. I bought so many packs last week, I quickly realized I needed to do something with them.

In between two work conferences in Europe, I had a chance to hop over to Germany to visit my long-time friend. My college roomie moved to Leipzig Germany last fall and I promised I’d visit her. She’s lived in Europe before, but the timing just never worked for me to visit her. It seemed like every time she left Europe was the exact time when I traveled there for work. Luckily, this trip aligned with her also being in Europe, so I jumped at the chance to see her.

How do you start your morning? Before work, the minute I’m done getting dressed, I need my coffee. I’m a major Starbucks® coffee fan and I like to drink Starbucks® Pike Place® Roast. Once I’ve got my coffee (to go in my reusable cup), I head to my job, at a university.

The changing seasons can be so hard on our skin. It’s even worse here in Phoenix. I constantly feel like my skin is dry and I can’t seem to stay hydrated, despite my best attempts. Although it can be a major challenge, I think I’ve come up with some simple ways to stay hydrated and keep my skin looking it’s best.

Boss babes, I get it. You’ve been blogging for a year or two years and you finally received an email from a company asking you to promote their product on your blog and social media.

We make “Mom Drinking Wine” because motherhood is hard. There are a lot of days when I feel completely overwhelmed, feel major mom guilt, or some combination of the two that leads me to believe I’m absolutely failing at my job as their mom.

Do you hold onto clothes you love, even if you think it might be outdated? I tend to rotate through my clothes pretty quickly, although I hold onto shoes, bags and accessories for years. On occasion though, I find a piece that I love so much I hold onto it for years.

Can you improve your skin in 28 days? Olay asked me to participate in their 28-day study and it was intriguing. I already have a pretty regimented skin care routine, so I was doubtful if I’d see much improvement, but I wanted to give it a try.

Cinco de Mayo is just over a week away! I’m in full planning mode, as it’s one of my favorite holidays to celebrate since moving to Arizona. Unfortunately, I won’t actually be in town this year because I’ll be flying to London for work. So we’re celebrating early at my house. We are going to make these micheladas and elotes, which is grilled Mexican street corn, to serve alongside other great Mexican fare.

Micheladas are the new margaritas, haven’t you heard? In Arizona, Cinco de Mayo is a major celebration. To gear up for next month’s festivities, I wanted to test out the best michelada recipe because I’ve been told it is the new ‘it’ drink, replacing the standby margarita this Cinco de Mayo.

When I told my hubby about this blog story idea, he laughed at me. So moms are going to organize crafts for their kids to make to give to themselves? Silly hubby! There are so many other people who are looking for cute ideas for Mothers day crafts on Pinterest. I was looking for ideas because I thought it would be cute for my kids to make something for their grandmothers. I think any mom would appreciate these DIY Mothers day crafts, no matter who made it for them.

I’m always searching for ways to sneak healthy ingredients into my kids’ diet. They generally won’t eat much protein and they don’t like avocados on their own. I wanted to try this avocado pasta sauce because it seemed like a really simple recipe and I was hoping I could trick my kids into eating it since they do like spaghetti.

Bright orange often reminds me of fall — pumpkins, hunter jackets, our president-elect. But seriously, I can’t quite get over the fact that bright orange is one of the hottest spring color trends for 2017. I noticed orange popping up everywhere lately.

Yay! Easter is almost here! How are you celebrating this weekend? I’m planning to take our kids to a couple different Easter egg hunts and I’m planning a small one in our backyard too. I also hope to find some time to try out some Easter crafts and maybe even a recipe or two. If you’re still looking for fun DIY Easter crafts and recipes to try out, check out some of my favorites below. Happy Easter everyone!

What is your toddler bedtime routine like? Do you struggle to get your kids to go to bed? No matter how much tough love I try to show them, they will not stay in bed! We’ve tried shifting their bedtime to later, but that doesn’t help, they still won’t go to sleep. Instead, they get louder and more riled up, which only means they get less sleep and they are even grumpier in the morning.

I love floral off shoulder dresses because they feel so light, airy and romantic for spring and summer. I’m also so glad that stores aren’t only carrying obvious styles – read white eyelet or lace – but also vibrant colors and interesting floral prints.

I’m so excited that my kids are getting old enough to enjoy the holidays. This year, I’m already getting in the Easter spirit. I created these cute bunny candy jars and I’m starting to plan all the adorable treats I can make to celebrate. I decided to let my kids get on the action, so we created these DIY window clings.

We decided it was about time to make our own Kansas City BBQ recipe at home, here’s why. I miss living in Lawrence, Kansas for one major reason — access to great BBQ (I also miss these bumble bee cookies).

It’s National PB & J day on Sunday! So in honor of PB & J day, I had to share some of the amazing peanut butter and jelly desserts I rounded up.

I never really took my bra shopping very seriously until a recent tweet I sent got a lot of attention. Well, a lot of attention as my Twitter account goes. Finding the best affordable bras is a major challenge for a lot of women.

I’ve noticed this spring that a lot of the styles I liked in the 90s are coming back. Shell toe sneakers, embroidered jeans and jean jackets, patches on jackets and backpacks. I guess I’m at that age where the trends I liked as a kid or teen are cool again. Man, that makes me feel old.

For my day job, I get to educate museums about sustainability. If that term is confusing, my favorite definition is ‘to live on the earth like we intend to stay’. Basically, sustainability is about finding ways to promote economic prosperity and social justice while also ensuring environmental resilience.

Can I be honest? By March, I’ve usually quit or at least stalled on my goals for the year. I can admit, I’ve hit a bit of a bump with my half marathon training (it’s hard to fit in 4 days a week!), but I have kept up with my healthy eating habits.

One of my absolute favorite low-carb meals is cheesy cauliflower breadsticks. They are super simple to make, taste delicious, and are really healthy. I’ve made them into cakes, pizza crusts, and breadsticks, and all versions of the cauliflower-based crust worked out really well.

But I have to say, I do love the Gucci Marmont for three reasons.

My weekends are packed with running errands, taking the kids to swim lessons, trying to fit in some fitness, and all the other mundane tasks that have to happen on the weekends. It’s really hard to fit it all in, but my goals for 2017 is to focus on my health and fitness.

Easter is a little over a month away. Now that my kids are a little older, I’m going to put a little more effort in to making it fun for them. I already started thinking about ways I could decorate, like with this little Easter Bunny candy jar. Last year, I found a bunch of creative uses for PEEPs. This year, I’m searching for cute Easter desserts recipes to try.

Have you heard about or been to Arizona spring training before? If not, you need to plan a trip here soon. Spring training in Arizona is so much fun. The weather is perfect (hello 70s and 80s) and there is so much happening this time of year. It is the absolute perfect time to be in Arizona. Many teams have migrated to Arizona in recent years because of the perfect weather and so many things to do around the valley.

Plaid prints are a major spring fashion trend. Women’s Wear Daily talked about plaid clothes for women as part of the Resort 2017 collections. I’m loving the plaid spring fashion trend because it doesn’t feel emo or grunge this season. It feels a lot more elevated and modern.

My kids are picky when it comes to their proteins. Luckily, they will eat turkey meatballs. Since it’s National Meatball Day on March 9th, I thought it would be fun to come up with a recipe utilizing the Cooked Perfect Meatballs my kids already love. This meatball French bread pizza is a perfect appetizer or dinner. It is super easy to make and it’s ultra-tasty.

Did you know the average American child spends less than 30 minutes outdoors each day and more than seven hours in front of an electronic screen? These statistics were shocking to me. Not only do our kids not get enough time outside, as the obesity rates soar, our kids are missing out on all of the amazing health and developmental benefits of nature for kids.

The lessons that finally made healthy eating feel doable, from someone who learned them the slow way.

How do you celebrate Easter? Last year was the first time that my kids really ‘got’ Easter. I coordinated a small little Easter egg hunt in the backyard and filled their eggs with little toys. Now that they’re another year older, I figured it was time to up my decorating game. I created this simple bunny candy jar that’s a quick and easy DIY Easter decor idea anyone can create at home.

It’s been over 7 months since we got back from Positano and I can’t get that place out of my mind. It is one of those places that just stays with you. The views, the people, the food. It’s hard to capture the magic of this place in words or even pictures, but I’m going to try. Here are the five things to do in Positano Italy.

Winter weather can be so tough on our skin. Now that I’m in my mid-30s, I spend a lot more time trying out beauty products to keep my skin looking it’s best. I know a lot of women don’t have time to try out a lot of different products, so I’m sharing my current favorite morning beauty essentials to save you some time.

Ever since coming home from Italy, I’ve been searching for more ways to connect with my roots. Creating traditional Italian dishes is one of the ways I honor my family heritage. Although I absolutely love eggplant parmesan, the standard recipe is really heavy and not very healthy. So, I decided to create a lighter eggplant parmesan recipe that still tastes decadent but it’s secretly healthy.

Right after Christmas, I had grand plans of a girly-dinosaur-themed birthday party I was going to create for my daughter’s third birthday. I started scouring Pinterest for inspiration and even reached out to a couple of companies with chic dinosaur accessories for women that I thought would be fun to incorporate into her third birthday. I was determined to throw a majorly adorable toddler birthday party for my daughter, like I had done when she turned two (in case you missed it, it was zoo themed).

With Valentine’s day right around the corner, I bet you’re planning on going out to dinner or making dinner at home. My hubby and I seem to get stuck in a rut of doing the same types of things every Valentine’s day. I was searching for some inspiration and I found lots of great date night ideas. Here are my top 10 free date night ideas (in no particular order) that I hope to try.

When we lived in Kansas, we hosted a small dinner party for my husband’s law school friends. One of our guests brought this giant apple-shaped cheese ball appetizer and I thought it was the cutest thing ever. At first, I had no idea what it was.

Since it is Black History month, it is the perfect time for me to share my experience at the Apartheid Museum. I also talked about my trip to South Africa here, in case you want to know more about it. Nearly 3 months since I came back from South Africa, I’m still not the same. That trip truly opened my eyes to the ever-present inequalities in society on a global scale.

Happy Friday! Welcome to my fourth fashion link-up party. I’m so glad to meet new fashionable ladies each week so I hope you’ll share your link below! In case you missed week three, it was so tough for me to choose who to feature this week. There were so many good looks.

There are certain pieces in my wardrobe that I consider timeless. This black and white floral print cardigan is one of those items. I’ve literally owned it for close to a decade. I got it back in the day when I worked retail at Banana Republic.

I’ve seen a lot of great baked oatmeal recipes online but I never made it myself. I love the idea of baked oatmeal because it’s a perfect hot breakfast you can make it in advance and then eat it all week long. Plus, I love baked goods. This blueberry baked oatmeal is a healthy way to get the taste of a baked good, like a blueberry muffin, without all the sugar and calories.

One of my 2017 goals was to generally eat healthier, especially fitting in more servings of produce every day. I’ve found that making a smoothie bowl recipe is a super quick and easy way to get more produce into my diet.

TGI Fashion Link-Up Week 3! In case you missed it, here were our first and second fashion link-up parties. The goal of the Fashion Friday Link-Up Party is to connect with and feature women who love fashion. I decided to create a link-up party as a way to celebrate these people and hopefully meet more amazing ladies.

How are you spending this Valentine’s day? We are planning a simple date-night at home. I will make my hubby a nice homemade meal and dessert so we can enjoy some time together over a nice meal. When it comes to desserts, I like them sweet, but I also like a little salty flavor thrown in. It’s so hard to choose just one flavor, so I combined them and made these chocolate chip cookie popcorn bars.

One of my absolute favorite foods is my husband’s homemade pizza. After much trial and error, he has perfected it. We’ve never tried a BBQ chicken pizza before, so we thought it would be a fun way to use our stand-by skillet pizza dough recipe.

Welcome to Fashion Friday Link-Up No. 2! In case you missed it, here was our first link-up party. The goal of the Fashion Friday Link-Up Party is to connect with and feature women who love fashion. I decided to create a link-up party as a way to celebrate these people and hopefully meet more amazing ladies.

I decided to make these honey-oat no-bake homemade cereal bars because my kids are obsessed with ‘Papa’s cereal’. Somewhere along the way, Honey Bunches of Oats became known as Papa’s cereal in our house. It’s pretty darn cute when they ask for it, but I hate when they eat it because the tiny little flakes and oats end up all over the floor and them. I often find little flakes in my daughter’s hair.

My son turns 5 in October. I’ve been contemplating if I should send my 4-year-old to kindergarten because he seems ready. The hard part is, I’m not sure if I’m the best judge of his readiness because I’m his mom. Of course, I think he’s great. Of course, I think he’s super smart. So is he really ready? I did some research to figure out how to determine if your 4-year-old is ready for kindergarten.

If you’re a curvy girl, you might think you can’t wear a printed skirt. Up until last year, I was sure I couldn’t (or shouldn’t) wear printed skirts. I thought my hips were too wide and that they looked terrible on me. Then, I tried a floral printed pencil skirt and it finally worked.

The goal of the Fashion Friday Link-Up Party is to connect with and feature women who love fashion. For the first two years of blogging, I was completely oblivious to the community of bloggers and how supportive they were. I had no idea just what amazing friendships could develop via social media and through blogging.

The week between Christmas and New Years I was obsessed with organizing my house. I rarely have an entire week off of work, so I tried to make the most of it. During the week, I spent a lot of time decluttering. I also started searching for closet organization hacks to make my closets cleaner and my home more organized.

Family traditions are important to me, especially those that celebrate my Italian heritage. Each holiday, I try to find an Italian recipe I can incorporate into my own little family’s traditions. This year, I tried my hand at a panettone bread recipe.

I love the off the shoulder trend because it feels so romantic and feminine. I’m also glad stores are carrying vibrant colors, interesting prints, and not-so-obvious styles (like white-lace only).

Are you starting a diet as part of your New Years resolution? If you are, I bet you’ve sworn off foods like pancakes. But you don’t have to! These gluten free oatmeal pancakes are totally healthy and a super filling way to start your morning. You can start your year refreshed with healthy recipes like these pancakes without sacrificing on flavor.

One of my favorite fashion trends that continues from 2016 is the saddle bag purse trend. I love their retro, yet practical vibe. I’m constantly searching for the perfect cross-body bag for all my travels and I think I finally found it. I’m obsessed with my denim blue saddle bag for three reasons.

Although most people are rearing to return the item immediately after Christmas, it’s actually really smart to wait until after New Years when stores slow down. Also, you might actually get more for the item if you wait for the Christmas sales to end and for the items to go back to full price.

As a mom of two littles, I’m constantly amazed by all the great products out there. I had the chance to test out some new products and all of them would make perfect new mom gifts. If you have a mommy friend who is having a baby in 2017 or just welcomed a new bundle recently, check out these four products that I think would make excellent presents.

Every year, it seems like a take on a new everyday mom style. Last year, it was cropped skinny pants and a blouse. This fall, I’m rocking some version of cuffed cords, booties and I always top it with a wool moto jacket.

What do you get those people in your life who are impossible to shop for? Gift subscription boxes might the answer. For me, subscription boxes make the perfect gift for several reasons.

I decided to try my artistic skills with royal icing to make gingerbread emoji cookies. After making these irreverent and funny gingerbread men, I had a bunch of leftover gingerbread dough and royal icing. I racked my brain to think of another recipe that could use the ingredients.

My kids are obsessed with anything that has their name on it. This Christmas, I opted to get them the best personalized gifts. I got my kids these awesome personalized books because they both love to read and I want to encourage it whenever I can. I have a distinct feeling they will ask us to read their stories again and again.

Around the holidays, I struggle to make meals for my family. We’re all so busy running to a holiday party or our kid’s school performances, so I just can’t seem to find time to make a hearty meal. I always seem to forget that I can fit in the time if I break out my slow cooker. I created this crockpot enchilada soup recipe because I wanted something warm and comforting, but still healthy this holiday season.

I love to bake. Especially during the holidays, I’m constantly trying out a new cookie recipe. This year, I knew I wanted to try making a hanging gingerbread man recipe. What I didn’t know is that we’d undertake a DIY cookie cutter project in order to craft the perfectly silly gingerbread men we created.

I love December—full of holiday baking, parties and decorating. I also love the opportunity to buy a flirty and feminine holiday dress for Christmas parties or New Year’s Eve. I generally don’t endorse buying items that aren’t versatile, but I fully support buying one special party dress per year that you can wear to a holiday party (and New Year’s Eve, if you pick wisely).

Are you having trouble finding the perfect Christmas gift for your husband, boyfriend, father or grandpa?

I never imagined I’d visit South Africa. It just never crossed my mind. Visiting South Africa felt surreal before I got there and pretty much the entire time I was there. I’m not sure why I couldn’t quite grasp that my life and career has taken me to so many amazing places in such a short time. I had no expectations of what South Africa would be like.

I love to bake. It is so therapeutic and a really great stress-reliever. The holidays can be so stressful and finding gifts for everyone can feel like such a challenge. That’s why I love to give baked goods as gifts. This year, I created these little Christmas tree brownies and found cute little white boxes, perfect for gift-giving.

For Thanksgiving, we bravely decided to take our two toddlers on a California road trip. We hadn’t seen most of my husband’s family in over two years since we moved to Arizona. We figured it was time to make the trek so our kids could meet their extended family. They had yet to meet their aunts and uncles, cousins, and great grandmother (who is 86!).

I’ve made a lot of cookie recipes for the blog over the years, so it would a bit tough to think about a cookie I’ve never made to prep for the holidays. These almond thumbprint cookies fill two categories. I’ve never made any type of thumbprint cookie before, and I’ve never used almond flour in a recipe for the blog before.

Now that my kids are a little older, they are really starting to get into the holidays. With Christmas right around the corner, I wanted to create a cute, inexpensive and kid-friendly craft. I created this DIY Christmas garland using paint sample cards from the local hardware store.

Since 2003, I’ve lived far away from my family and many of my friends. Luckily, my parents spend a few months each winter in Phoenix near us. My sister and nephew always make a trip to see us to escape the cold. But unfortunately, we don’t get to see our extended family very often. Making custom Christmas cards for my family and friends is a great way to keep in touch with everyone who lives far away. Plus, who doesn’t love to get mail?

We decided to use Airbnb in Italy instead of using hotels. I initially looked at hotels because I travel a lot for work. I thought we’d stay in one of the hotel chains I usually stay at so I could add to my rewards points. However, I quickly found hotel prices were outrageous in the cities we intended to visit. Airbnb, on the other hand, was much more reasonably priced and offered a lot more space than we would find in a hotel.

I love pumpkin spice baked goods. Every fall, it’s become a tradition for me to make at least a few versions of pumpkin spice goodies. My husband always requests pumpkin pancakes and these pumpkin cookies. I’ve also branched out and made these pumpkin Nutella bars, and pumpkin scones, both of which were a big hit at work.

Have you picked out any Thanksgiving outfits yet? Thanksgiving isn’t just about eating. You might be tempted to slip into your ultra-comfortable elastic waist pants. You should rethink that. There are at least two major reasons to look nice at Thanksgiving.

You know when you find a dress and you’re like, I need this? Yeah, that’s how I feel about this black floral silk dress. I previously owned a short sleeve dress that looked very similar to this one, but over the years, I wore it out. I was extra excited when I spotted this dress because I just knew it was for me.

Do you prep your meals for the week? When I’m most organized, I use my Sunday afternoons to make meals I can take with me to work for the week. Some of my favorite take-to-work meals include vegetarian frittata, lasagna roll-ups, and my new favorite is this vegetarian Mexican quinoa bake.

Despite my best attempts, I totally failed to complete my 10K training program. About two weeks before my first 10K, I almost quit, but decided to stick it out. Even though I was not at all prepared to run the 10K, I decided to head to San Francisco to give it a shot.

My friends at Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company are helping me think more strategically about how to keep my things safe when I travel. Honestly, I hadn’t thought much about traveling with jewelry until a recent trip to South America, when my coworker scared me into keeping all my valuables at home. She said traveling with jewelry was risky, especially to a country with a high theft rate. I understood her point. I had never traveled to South America before and I had no idea what to expect.

On Friday, I attended California Academy of Sciences SuperNatural Halloween party. Although this was a kids’ party, my colleagues told me I had to come in costume. The last time I dressed up for Halloween was pre-kids and let’s just say, they were not kid-appropriate costumes. Since I had to come up with a last-minute Halloween costume, I settled on an easy cat makeup tutorial I knew I could pull off with only a few beauty products.

Like a lot of women, I’m super busy and finding time to go to the gym is challenging. Since I’m training for my first 10K, I have no excuses. I’ve got to be extra organized to ensure I make the time for the gym. A lot of days, it can still be a struggle, but I think I’ve mastered my gym bag essentials. I’ve found the best products that help me quickly transition from sweaty gym rat to chic mama on the go.

Every girl needs a pair of coated denim. Although they’ve been around for awhile, it’s a fall trend that keeps on giving. Here are the three reasons you need to invest in a pair of coated denim pants this fall.

The two flavors that stuck with me from my trip to Argentina (besides the meat) was dulce de leche and espresso. My Argentinian friend gave me a jar of dulce de leche before I left, so I wanted to create a recipe that incorporated both espresso and dulce de leche. This espresso-spiked dulce de leche brownie recipe is the delicious outcome.

I almost quit training for my 10K because I’m tired of getting injured. If it wasn’t for my support system and tracking my progress, I definitely would have quit. Here is the story and the five tips you can use for reaching your goals sooner.

I love a statement necklace, and one with leather detailing is even better. An eye-catching necklace is still my go-to accessory because it instantly changes the whole vibe of my outfit. I might wear the same black dress every couple weeks, but it suddenly feels different and new depending on which necklace I pair with it. This statement leather necklace really sets off my look.

I’ve seen lasagna rolls on Pinterest before, and I always thought they were so cute. Although I’ve shared a few vegetarian lasagna recipes on here before (brussels sprouts and mushrooms and vegetarian), I never tried making lasagna rolls before. I thought it would be a perfect kid-friendly meal to make for my family and I was right.

Italy is more than just major tourist destination to me. My grandparents are from a small village in southern Italy, so this a story about the search for my southern Italian heritage, and the family roots I have been dying to explore.

Fall 2016 fashion seems a bit disjointed. Skinny jeans are still majorly on trend, but now I’m seeing major bell bottoms and also ultra baggy jeans (think 90s grunge) are also making a comeback. The fringe and tassels fashion trend are still really cool on everything from handbags to booties to leather gloves.

We are huge football fans in the Freeman household. I’m from Green Bay, WI – a.k.a. Titletown, USA. I also attended a major university with a big-time Division I football program, the same one as my hubby (only decades earlier 😜) who also played football.

Fall is my favorite season and I love Halloween. Honestly, I’m not much for decorating, though. Don’t get me wrong, I like Halloween and fall decorations, but I generally only focus on Christmas decorating.

One of the things I miss most about my time in Italy is the amazing coffee and adorable cafes we frequented. There is something so charming and relaxing about the cafe culture over there. When Starbucks® invited me to try out their new Caffé Latte K-Cup® pods, I just knew I wanted to create coffee party ideas that would transport me to those Italian cafes.

I’m in love with my black and white tribal print dress. I recently got it on major summer discount for under $10! Although my dress was technically from summer, it is a great piece I plan to wear this fall because it is made of a thicker material and will be easy to wear with tights and booties when the weather cools down.

I created this super simple chocolate croissant recipe for an upcoming cafe party tutorial (check back on Friday!). One of the things I miss most about Europe is all of the little cafes with delicious coffee and even yummier pastries. You really can’t go wrong with any of the tasty baked goods in those cafes, but my absolute favorite is the pain au chocolat – aka – chocolate croissants.

It’s already that time! Well, not quite, but I’m already thinking about Christmas and all the Christmas cookie recipes I want to make. The minute it turns into fall, I can’t help but think about all the baking I intend to do. I’m extra excited to bake this year because I finally (finally!) have a stand mixer.

I’m new to training. I’ve used running (specifically sprint intervals) over the years to maintain or lose weight, but I’ve never considered myself a runner. For the first time, I’m training for a race and I’ve been frustrated on all of the small injuries I’ve experienced already, only a couple months into training.