The Dirty Girl Mud Run is coming to the Twin Cities on Saturday, August 3rd. Guess who just signed up to participate?

I’m really psyched. I was supposed to run my first 5k last month, but wound up skipping it in favor of going to see my niece’s first soccer game. I’m not in the best shape, but that’s ok because the Dirty Girl Mud Run is set up for women of all abilities and fitness levels.

It’s an untimed obstacle course for women-only. According to their site, “Dirty Girl Mud Run challenges women to break from their routine for a day, get out of their comfort zones, get dirty, and accomplish something brand new – all while having a blast. Every one of the obstacles—from the “Utopian Tubes” tunnel crawl to the “PMS (Pretty Muddy Stuff)” mud pit—is optional, so participants can skip anything they find too difficult. Forming teams is encouraged, and so are crazy team uniforms.”

Yeah, they had me at breaking routine, but they really got me with crazy team uniforms. I don’t have a team yet, but I’d love to have some of you guys join me! Life With Levi readers can use promo code DGTWINBLOGGUEST for 20% off their registration fee. Dirty Girl supports breast cancer awareness, and cancer survivors run for free.

I hope to see some of you there, and I can’t wait to share pictures with you all after the event!

DIRTY GIRL MUD RUN, TWIN CITIES

When:

Saturday, August 3, 2013 (rain or shine)

First wave of runners: 8 AM

Last wave of runners: 4 PM

Where:

Running Aces Harness Park

15201 Zurich Street NE

Forest Lake, MN 55025

Earlier this month Air Wick hooked me up with some of their new National Park fragrances to test out. As a mom of a little boy with a male roommate AND a dog in the house, I felt well-qualified and ready for this review.

Shoes, gym bags, missing sippy cups – my house has it all. The thing is, l don’t want my house to smell like any of those things. No one does. Especially not a single gal who may or may not occasionally want to impress a date once in a while.

Having a dog in the house doesn’t help. Monster is simply adorable, but sometimes (ok, a lot of times), she smells. Of course, she’s a snuggler and likes to sit on my feet while I blog from the couch. Super sweet, but super stinky on a hot summer day.

Resisting that cute face is futile, so I just pretend not to notice if she’s smelling a little funky. I mean, she is a dog and she smells like a dog’s supposed to smell, I guess – this probably sounds dumb, but it’s not that she smells like rotten fish or poop or anything, she just smells like dog. A strong dog smell. That’s the best way I can describe it.

Levi I can toss in the bathtub, but smelly shoes aren’t as easy to take care of on a daily basis. And it’s not like I can spray air freshener on the pug when she gets a little ripe. I’m pretty sure Mike would frown upon that, plus it’s not exactly safe. Luckily, the goodies Air Wick sent me solved the problem.

They’ve partnered with the National Park Foundation to offer six new limited release fragrances that will leave your house smelling awesome. With over 400 national parks in the country, it wasn’t hard for them to find inspiration for scents such as Grand Canyon (subtle floral notes) or Virgin Islands (tropical plumeria & sweet honeysuckle).

The plug-in is much more convenient for me than a spray air freshener, since it continuously works and I don’t have to worry about re-spraying the room. Getting fragrance in Levi’s eyes while he runs through the house like a Tasmanian devil is something I don’t need to worry about with this, since the oil is slowly warmed and diffused from the holder that’s plugged into the outlet. I can even recap fragrances when I switch them out, so I’m not committed to just one scent for the duration of the bottle.

The National Park Collection is available in Air Wick’s full range of products, with pricing ranging from $2.99-5.99. You can find them at most major retailers, or at my place battling my stinkies for me.

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Air Wick. I received product samples to facilitate my review and a promotional item as a thank you for participating.

Pardon me while I take a few moments to wipe tears from my eyes. The kids and I just finished reading “Fireflies and Shooting Stars: The Tale of Enzo”, which is a beautiful story about self love and accepting difference. Author Ed Raarup and Illustrator Lindsay D. Nery sure know how to get to a mama’s heart.

Who knew that the story of a firefly could bring me to tears, but it did. “Fireflies and Shooting Stars” is a magical story that tells the tale of Enzo, a little firefly born without a taillight. This comes with challenges–like not being able to play hide n’ seek. As I read the chapter about Suzy picking on Enzo for not having a taillight, I watched my daughter’s eyes well up a little. While she’s only four, I could tell she got that bullying was a bad idea. And my son (who is two) petted the beautiful photo of Enzo cuddled in his mother’s arms for comfort. But Enzo would not let these challenges get in his way of following his heart.

You see, Enzo had a strength and a courage within that I only hope I can instill in my own children. This little firefly helped Tommy the tadpole out of a dried up creek puddle and flew him back into the pond (even though his Papa told him to stay far away–frogs love to eat fireflies). He was also determined to find Joel and Nell, a firefly and shooting star who the others spoke of. Nell was a magical shooting star, one who gave Joel strength and courage many years before, bringing light to all of the other fireflies. Joel left the Earth to join Nell among the stars, where he was happiest. Enzo decided the pair could help him find his light.

Little did he know that the light was in his heart all the time. (Don’t we all need to hear that every once in a while?) Through a journey to space, Enzo finds the truth and his light. Upon his return, he finds that his friends and family loved him so much, they made him a playground where all fireflies belong and can play.

The story is based on “Firefly Field“, an all-accessible playground for all kids to play. It is beautifully illustrated, and accompanied by a CD with songs (that are found in the book–a lifesaver for parents who aren’t great at coming up with melodies to songs in books on their own). Although the book is recommended for kids ages 5-10, my little ones enjoyed letting me read this heart-warming story to them. An aside? The book is so beautiful, I admit to keeping it high up on a shelf away from the kids–we’ll definitely be revisiting it for years to come and I want it pristine! 

And the best part, the kids, mom, and dad, all learned lessons while we read this gorgeous story of Enzo. How could you not appreciate this?

“…there’s a light that shines in everyone. It may be different,

but that’s OK. You’ve gotta know just who you are and what

you’re good at so you can shine in your own way.”

If you are interested in a copy of “Fireflies and Shooting Stars”, visit http://www.firefliesandshootingstars.com/ to order your copy today. The story retails for $29.95 and includes the CD with 12 songs, but for the month of June, you can get a copy for $19.95 with the code “sparkle”. I definitely recommend the story to teach your children about accepting difference.

Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of “Fireflies and Shooting Stars” in exchange for this review; however, as always, all opinions are my own.

A few weeks ago I announced that Delta sent me a new fancy In2ition showerhead to review, and also shared a photo of my hot roommate Mike installing it. What can I say? I think he’s cute when he plays handyman.

The photo above is Mike taking out the old showerhead. This is my new fancy Delta In2ition showerhead. Isn’t it fancy? t

I was really impressed just how easy it was to install. The video below is about 4 minutes because of all the banter between me and Mike. If you take that stuff away, I’d say it probably took us about two and a half minutes to install. Super quick, and we had no troubles at all except me hitting on him and getting shot down. (If you have trouble viewing the video below, click here for the direct link.)

My favorite part of the new showerhead (beside picturing Mike in the shower, of course) is that has fantastic water pressure on nearly all of the settings. Whether I have it on showerhead, showerhead & hand shower, or even just the hand shower mounted on the head, the force of the water is great. It’s also ridiculously easy to switch between the different spray modes and move from massage to something more similar to a rainfall effect.

The water pressure isn’t wasteful, either. Thanks to Delta’s H2Okinetic technology, there’s an internal system that controls the speed, movement, and droplet size of the water passing through the showerhead so that it feels like you have more water pressure without actually using more water. Pretty neat, huh?

The MagnaTite locking feature (because it DOES have a magnet, despite what Mike says in the video) holds the hand shower in place perfectly so I don’t have to worry about it falling down and hitting Levi in head while he’s in there taking a bath. One improvement I’d like to see, though, would be to offer a detachable hand shower holder or maybe e a retractable hose so that while you’re using it, you don’t have to set it down. When I used the hand shower to rinse my legs while shaving, I appreciated the pause-flow button so I didn’t waste water, but it would have been nice to have a place to set it since I was sitting on the side of the tub and it wasn’t convenient to attach it back to the main head fixture.

Overall, both Mike and I are really pleased with the performance of the Delta In2ition system. Even though I haven’t been able to convince him to jump in the shower with me, we both give it two thumbs up for solo use, kids, and dogs.

I participated in an Ambassador Program on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Delta Faucets. I received a product sample and promotional item as a thank you for participating.

You probably aren’t old enough to remember when t-shirts were not acceptable outerwear (hell, I’m not even old enough to remember that), but believe it or not, t-shirts were designed and intended to be used as undergarments.

Recently, I was reading an article about the history of the t-shirt and was surprised to learn that the t-shirt really has not been part of the American fashion scene for very long. I mean, to me, t-shirts are synonmous with rock n roll concerts, family reunions, and punk rock. It’s hard to imagine a time they weren’t popular. 

There are conflicting stories about how the t-shirt was invented. One story talks about how American soldiers saw European soldiers wearing them during World War I and admired them for their lightweight comfort in hot climates. The story goes on to say that the American soldiers were wearing hot, woolen uniforms and were very eager to wear light weight, short sleeve cotton shirts. Knowing how itchy/scratchy wool can be, that story around World War I and the Europeans does sound feasible. Cotton is well-known to wick away moisture, and layering it under a wool shirt would make the wool less irritating to the skin. Even though marketers of wool clothes insist that summer wool suits are comfortable, I live in Minnesota and I’ve worn wool socks, and even I find that hard to believe.

Regardless of itchy wool doubts, there is evidence that the Navy did start to issue t-shirts to their sailors as undergarments to be worn under their uniforms in time for World War II. The movie “A Streetcar Named Desire” popularized the t-shirt, and shortly after that movie people started to wear them sans dress shirts.

It wasn’t until Woodstock and the marketing efforts of Rit Dye to popularize tie-dye that the t-shirt really came into its own. Ever since then, t-shirts have become main stream casual wear for men, women, and children all across America. Now, walking around the grocery store, or down the street, to the movies, or a museum, t-shirts meet the eye everywhere you look.

Vendors sell the souvenir t-shirts on the sidewalks of the city. Gift stores peddle them by the hundreds. Small businesses promote custom short sleeve t-shirts in a variety of styles. Even bowling and little league teams get their team t-shirt uniforms customized. They are so mainstream that it is hard to imagine that there was a time when people simply didn’t wear them at all.

Recently, I was looking over older blog posts that I had written, and the blog post 14 ways to save on summer vacation caught my eye. Some of my friends have been complaining about not being able to travel this summer, so they’ve been thinking about having a summer "stay-cation". Naturally, I went overboard and suggested that maybe it would be fun to create their own matching custom t-shirts to wear as a family when they take day-trips to the museums, the local water-park, Six Flags, the fireworks displays, the picnics, and the movies. That way they can really play tourist and giggle a little when everyone else laughs at their silly shirts. Because silly shirts are always appropriate. Seriously. 

Plus, wearing them just might make the stay-cation a little bit more recognizable as a true "event." All they need to do is figure out what designs and phrases that they want to put on the shirts that would lend themselves to being worn not just on the stay-cation, but for months afterwards as well. That way when they get tired of wearing them, they can repurpose them into shopping bags or throw pillows with just a little bit of ingenuity, some Pinterest inspiration, and some liquid adhesive. This just could be a summer event to remember!

I’ll bet the Navy had no idea what they were starting when they issued those first t-shirts to their sailors back in World War II.