This one is simple!

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Many of you left comments or sent email asking questions about these two Tracy Turpen photos. You wanted to know what shoes I’m wearing and how I get my hair to look like that. So we’ll talk about it!

First, the shoes. I was wearing periwinkle and dark purple for one outfit and lavender with a dark purple scarf for the other outfit. So I knew I wanted an “off color” shoe. I was on the hunt for a dark red shoe, and I found the Nanette Lepore Sweetheart pumps on Piperlime. They were a splurge, but I just love them. It became quite the frustrating deal, though, because I found the shoes but couldn’t find my size. Anywhere! I called actual shoe distributors for one of our local stores and they didn’t even have them in my size, which is a big ole size 10, by the way.

Piperlime ended up being completely sold out of the shoe, but on a hunch, I checked Piperlime the next day. There they were. All stocked up on the Nanette Lepore Sweetheart pump in every size imaginable. So I knew it was meant to be and I snatched up those size 10s quicker than you can say, “holy gorgeous shoes, Batman!”

Now, the hair. I’ve always had thick hair. It’s also got quite a bit of wave to it. When I don’t take time to deal with it, especially in the summer time, it’s got quite a bit of frizz to it. I got a few comments on the length of my hair and how it doesn’t seem manageable. I’m assuming you mean it’s hard to manage my hair and a baby.

Because I have so much hair in terms of thickness (length, too, but it’s particularly thick) it is so much easier to wear my hair long. My hair rarely gets greasy or oily. I can wash it on Monday morning and then I don’t have to wash it again until Thursday or Friday. I wear it down for two days and wear it in a ponytail for the other days. And it still looks okay.

When I wore my hair short, I had to wash it every single day because sleeping on it would cause little pieces to stick up or there would be flat spots all over it. Also, those of you that have wavy or naturally frizzy hair know that it is very hard to get all the kinks out of it if it’s short. So I wear my hair long. When it’s long, I can embrace the waves. It took me 4 years to get it this long– and most of it grew during the pregnancy and right after Hudson was born.

So how did I get my hair to look like that for the pictures? I went and had my hairstylist do a great blowout for the pictures. I’ve done it the way she does by myself, but not since I had the baby. Here’s how to get the look:

1. You need 4 arms. I’m not even joking. Someone needs to stand behind you and work on the back while you work on the front.
2. Sorry.  No, seriously. You need 3 round brushes.
3. Work from the bottom/underneath part of your hair to the scalp. Moving in sections with the round brushes.
4. Wrap a small section of hair around the round brush and pull, turning the ends under as they get through the brush. Repeat this action until the hair is dry and the curls are pulled out. Now wrap the entire section of hair around the brush and leave the brush in your hair– and let go of the brush. On my hair, it just stays there– stuck in my hair with my hair coiled around it. Then I move onto the next section of hair with a different round brush and repeat all of this. At one time, I may have 2 round brushes stuck in my hair while I’m working on a new section.
5. Pull a round brush out of your hair as you need it and your hair should be in a coil like wave. Do this to your entire head working from the underneath to the top and you should have bouncy waves all over.
6. Pull through the waves with your fingers and use a small amount of hairspray.

This is what it looked like just before I left the salon last week.

That’s all. It’s so hard to explain exactly what you do in words instead of by demonstrating.

When I do all of this to my hair it takes about 35-40 minutes. It also lasts for an entire week. Nothing has to be touched up with a curling iron or flat iron. All you need are frizzy hair and 3 round brushes!

Holy sore legs, Batman!

I got up yesterday morning before Hudson did, asked Todd to take care of morning baby duties, and I set off. On foot. Around our hilly neighborhood. My friend at It Is Everlasting wrote a running plan for me. This is a realistic running plan. I asked her to set it up where I run three days every week and in the end of 8 weeks I’m able to run a 5K.

So yesterday morning, I was off. With my iPod on my arm and my face freezing. But I was so proud of myself for just getting both feet out the door! My workout yesterday was to do a warm-up walk for 5 minutes, then jog for 2 minutes and walk for 2 minutes. I repeated this five times for a total of 20 minutes of run/walk.

I’m about to admit something that I’m really ashamed to admit. I haven’t worked out since I had the scary episode when I was pregnant. The scary episode (where I had severe bleeding at 7 weeks) happened and my doctor told me to take it easy for 3 weeks. I turned those 3 weeks into an excuse to stop working out even when 4 weeks rolled around. Then the horrible sickness started and didn’t stop until I was 26 weeks pregnant. I’m not giving excuses, but I’m letting you know how long it had been since my body had done anything more than power walk.

When I got home from my first run I was tired, but I felt energized. Today, my legs are a little sore in the thighs– thank goodness it’s not the shins. And I’m taking Hudson on a big walk when he wakes up from his nap. Tomorrow morning I’ll be out again– running.

Here’s my ultimate goal. I know I wanted to do this before turning 30— and I may even do it before turning 28! It just so happens that I’ll already be spending the weekend in Charleston over the March 27 weekend with some fabulous ladies (not that Charleston is THAT far me anyway). Since I’ll be in town and I’m working toward a 5K now, I should go ahead and set my final goal at completing a 10K. And what better 10K than the Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston?

Now, on for the second part of this post. While I was running yesterday, I realized that I didn’t set up a decent playlist on my iPod. THEN my iPod battery just died on me. So I spent a good part of this morning making my ultimate playlist.

I have a tendency to skip a song after listening to it for 30 seconds while I’m exercising, so I put quite a few songs on this list to make sure that they’ll cover the entire run. I also don’t want to hear the same exact songs every day. Here are my running choices. These are all songs that make me want to get up and dance or just put me in a good mood.

Now that you know my taste in music, do you have any other music suggestions for my running playlist?

I’ll leave you with one more question. What is the best jogging stroller out there? I want a jogging stroller that can also be used in the airport, in the mall, or on sidewalks around town. Thanks for the help!