Midweek Musings: doing good and making life easier

Midweek seems to sneak up on you quickly when there's a holiday weekend. I wanted to slow down the last few weeks of summer, but it feels like a head long rush into fall. Despite the breakneck pace of life lately, there's been a few things on my radar. Things that are make life easier, or make me more aware or shift the focus off of me onto something else. Here are a few things that are doing just that: Saucony Run for Good Campaign. I've joined in the Suacony Run for Good campaign, and it's been a nice shift in making my runs about something more than just me. During the month of September Saucony's Run for Good foundation is sponsoring the #RunForGood campaign to help you keep kids healthy. For every mile you run and log though RunKeeper, Saucony will donate $1 to a cause aimed at helping keep kids healthy and active. Check out the details HERE.

Dr. Cool Recovery. When it comes to making life easier with the "little things." Dr. Cool Recovery Wraps is where it's at. I've always been a fan of their products, not just because they are genius, but because they are a local company as well, based in the Seacoast of New Hampshire. Last year I relied on their medium wrap to help ice my popiliteal tendon after each run. And now I'm using the small wrap on my foot after some of my runs (thanks to dropping a shed on my foot--sounds bad, but it isn't that bad).

Their product is one I use frequently, so I was excited when they asked if I was interested in becoming an ambassador. I'm pretty exclusive about the brands I'll promote on my blog and this is one that I'm happy to talk about since it is something I've been using for a while. If you have an injury or if you have little kids who hate holding bags of ice on boo-boos then the recovery wraps are definitely for you!

Bread & Wine. My mom recently gave me a copy of Shauna Niequist's book Bread & Wine. I've been savoring her story telling and folding page corners of recipes I'd like to try. The book is a series of stories about life around the table, how feeding people and building community have become and integral part of the author's life. If you love people, love food and love wine this book is a must read.

The Whole Brained Child. I wish someone had given me a list of books to read when I was pregnant with my first child, books beyond just the baby basics, books that had me looking towards the future. If I were to give any expecting parent a book to read it would be this one. I've been listening to the audiobook on Audible on my treadmill runs and this book is filled with keen insights into childhood brain development and how to parent within the parameters of how your child's brain functions. It's good stuff and I feel like it's helping me help the kids.