No Spend Month: Week 2, plus Mother's Day Weekend and some other stuff

**I am two weeks into the "no-spend month" and still- so far, so good.  We spent Mother's Day weekend in Denver with some dear friends, but we stuck to our pre-set budget (actually, we were significantly under it)  there were no major purchases, and Riley didn't even ask for 'something special' from our trip.  The latter was a big deal, as the Girl really LOVES to buy 'souvies' (as she calls them) when we travel.   I've noticed myself slipping into the online browsing habit a couple of times, but each time I've quickly caught myself and changed course.  The challenge seems to be doing it's job- at least in that respect.

**Mother's day was lovely.  As I mentioned before, we were in Denver with friends, and celebrating it with them was a great way to go, complete with cute crafts, yummy food, perfect weather and Riley lip-synching a mother's day song in church.  Classic Riley. 

Yep, we sorta resemble each other. 

I sure do love this Girl and am so grateful I have the opportunity to be her Mom.  

**While in Denver, I ran this 5K with my friend and her 9 year old daughter, plus about 2000 more women and girls (and some guys, although I think it was supposed to be a women's only event.)   I was paired up with a little girl who didn't have an adult running with her, and we made a game of picking a pair of runners and trying to stay ahead of them.  It was silly, but it kept her running most of the time, and I'm happy to report we won our race with the 'lady in the blue hat' and her daughter.  Being in this event reminded me how much I like running (despite the weird knee issue I'm having right now) and how much I enjoy the energy and motivation that comes from training for and participating in races.  I'm on the lookout for a few fun, casual, local events to run this summer.

**The friends that we visited have been working hard lately to make positive, healthy changes to their lifestyles, and I gotta say - it's really awesome!  They all look great, but on top of that, you can tell that their family as a whole has embraced the concept of healthy living as a family value.  I came home feeling inspired to take a closer look at how I'm doing healthy living-wise, both personally and for my little family.  While it's not all bad, I will say this:  There is room for improvement.

So that's where we are today- still on track with 'no spend month,' still working on living a healthy lifestyle, still loving on this crazy little girl who calls me 'Mama.'