I blink again and my son is nearly 3. (Friday)

Let me get my cliche on here.

Children will make time go by faster than you knew possible. Sure, there are really long days/nights/weeks/moments that can crawl by. But then sometimes things just get in a groove and you work and weekend and laugh and cry and let the days fly by and suddenly your kid is talking in full sentences and using the toilet and taking Spanish and French lessons at school (um, what?).

As these upcoming birthdays approach I find myself trying to reflect more. When I do find a few moments to do so all I can do is be grateful. I won’t go on to list all my blessings here but dang, I am lucky. I’m not saying my life is shiny and perfect, but it’s the perfect one for me.

OK, mushy post over.

I spent a few days last week in beautiful San Fran with some awesome co-workers and tons of fellow marketing automation nerds. It was more than I could have hoped for…

I spent the weekend trying desperately to recover from a crazy week, long night of red-eye action and a mountain of laundry. Catching up with lots of Miles hugs was in order as well. Annnnd we found time for a little BV Bonfire action and had an awesome night with friends new and old. Thanks Alana & Dean-o!

Besides being absent most of last week I’ve still been hitting the yoga mat as much as possible and a few runs here and there. Now that the temps are staying steady at not freezing I’m craving my running sneakers a little more often than never so that’s a start.

And after today’s horrible tragedy at the Boston Marathon I can’t pull together many words besides that it is an unthinkable tragedy and I am sending so many thoughts to everyone affected. Another reminder to truly take a moment and be thankful for the good things in our lives.

Let’s all try to go out and do something kind for others tomorrow.

When I finish building a program with 10 emails and 4 smart campaigns:

When a prospect sends a nasty email reply saying the never opted in to our messages and that they hate us… and I can send them a nice email with a screen shot of the exact day, time and form they completed opting in:

When I blow someone’s mind with Event Partner integration and progression statuses:

When a program you forward for review has absolutely zero changes:

How you feel when anything goes wrong with any email, data, campaign, landing page or form:

When you get an urgent email request at 4:45 p.m.

When someone sends you a list for import not in the import template and you send it back telling them they have to put it in the import template.

When your unsubscribe rate goes down after launching a preference center.

When you clean up 282 different lead sources to 12.

What you irrationally think when your lead’s activity history doesn’t tell the story it should.

When creating .ics files with tokens becomes available.

When you have CRM integration.

How you feel after building a lead scoring program.

How I feel when others out there enjoy this.

Play on marketing automation playas.

Good Self, Bad Self by Judy Smith

Judy is the real life inspo for the the gladiator in a suit, Olivia Pope. I’ve recently binged on Scandal and am a tad obsessed. I just started this book and am so excited to find a little more free time to devour it.

J’s Everyday Fashion

My favorite fashion blog as of late. Daily outfits that I can afford and see myself wearing. I get some great ideas from her!

Marketo’s B2B Marketing and Sales Blog

It’s no secret I love all things Marketo, but this blog is LEGIT you guys. Every post is worth my time and I share 90% of them too.

Twenty Six & Then Some

I love reading about Page’s IRONMAN training, seeing pictures of her cute dog and her occasional baking of carbs.

Patty Azzarello’s Business Leadership Blog

I just started following Patty’s blogs and tweets and have her book, RISE, on my to-read list.

What’s good on your reading list lately?

The life of a marketing automation specialist is a fun one. Most people don’t know what I do, and that’s OK. That’s the point. I do a lot of cool things that make other things happen. A facilitator of sorts. And also, a total baller.

And if you work with me and get offended by this, please don’t. It’s all meant in good fun.

Without further ado… the life of a marketing automation specialist as explained through GIFs.

When someone wants to change the email/landing page you spent 10 hours finalizing.

When a typo goes unnoticed on an email send.

When your PURL list will only export without the PURLs.

When someone from sales is looking for help to ‘send out a quick email’.

When your 25 step campaign flow works on the first try.

When you run a new segmentation.

When you’re told the campaign you’ve worked on all week is cancelled.

When someone says that your job is ‘email marketing’.

When your idea gets put on the product roadmap.

When someone messes up your data.

When you try to explain why it’s not OK to send someone 5 emails a week.

When someone understands why it’s not OK to send someone 5 emails a week.

When anyone out there finds this as entertaining as I do.

Check out part II!

A {mostly} happy kiddo. PS – Potty training SUCKS.

A great husband.

A fun job that involves dodge-ball tourneys. Running shoes with tights for the win.

A giant closet purge.

LOTS of yoga. Feeling strong!

Return of Daryl Dixon tonight. Sexy.

Reflecting on all these awesome things makes the yucky things easier to deal with. Mainly a busted dishwasher and furnace… all within 1 week. Blarg!

What’s good for you?

I will NOT feel guilty for giving myself what I need.

This is my latest intention. I go to yoga and sweat and stretch and chant it over and over again until my mind is blank. The blankness may only last a few moments at best but those moments are priceless.

Just a month ago I sat here and proclaimed that 2012 would be more running! Look at this big list of races I want to run! Yay running!

And then, I got back in the room. Hey yoga, nice to see you again. I haven’t stopped craving that room since. I have stopped running since though.

Maybe it’s just coincidence, maybe divine intervention… but a beautiful yoga studio just opened a mere 4 minutes from my home. How I didn’t know this was happening is a shock but I found out the day before the first class from Maria on twitter and in that moment I was overjoyed.

Since then I’ve been attending 2-4 classes a week and I couldn’t be both happier and more frustrated. I’m SO happy when I’m in the room. I’m so happy when I leave. I’m so happy when I wake up knowing I have a class later.

I’m frustrated that my desire to run is zero. ZERO.

I have been on the treadmill taking long luxurious walks while watching The Bachelor on my iPad but the thought of cranking the speed past 4 mph is not one in my head.

I was feeling really bad about this. I was feeling guilty. Didn’t I just say I couldn’t wait to run more this year? I’m a fraud!

I was talking to Maria before a great session a few weeks ago about this and she said, “Well maybe this is just what your body needs right now.” You know what, I think she was right. That day during practice my intention was “I will not feel guilty for giving my body and mind what they need.”

Since that day I let go of the guilt and embraced what felt good. Not only for my body but for my mind. I work hard. I parent a 2 year old. I volunteer my time. I try to be on top of things. Why force myself to do something I just don’t want to do right now? Don’t I deserve a few hours a week to do exactly what I want and make myself better because of it? Honestly, I think I do deserve that.

This is by no means me saying I’m not a runner. I love running. I have since I was 12 years old and will continue to for the rest of my life I hope. But who is to say that hanging out the sneakers for a bit (could be a month, could be a year) is wrong? I’m done feeling that it’s wrong.

I will give my myself what I want.

I will give myself what I need.

Namaste.

I kicked off Saturday morning with a short run followed by an hour of yoga at Beyond Yoga in Vermilion. I was SO THRILLED to learn of this new studio opening so close to me! Two winters ago I was very diligent in my yoga practice by hitting up Solaluna in Oberlin regularly but since then I’ve hit up a class here and there and half-assed some moves at home. Over the past few weeks I’ve been itching to get back into a studio so it was divine intervention at it’s finest that Beyond Yoga has opened! I felt honored to attend the very first yoga class ever held at this beautiful location.

Today I started the day with a serious sweat session at Psycle in Westlake. It’s been a few months since I’ve been there and as usual it did not disappoint. I left drenched in sweat, with shaky legs and a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders. An added bonus was sweating next to some good friends I haven’t seen in far too long.

And to top off the weekend, another class at Beyond Yoga. Since it’s their first week open all classes are donation based so I’m going to be trying to try out as many instructors as possible before ponying up to full price! But let’s be honest, I’ve already purchased my 10 class pass for after this week!

To say the least… it was a sweaty and tiring weekend. One I’d like repeat over and over.

Last week was also my first week back on the running wagon, officially. First week of the Earthday Half training schedule is complete! 15 more to go…

How about you? Any good sweat sessions this weekend? Dying of excitement about Downton returning to the tube tonight?

1 – Bottom Lash Mascara

Umm, do other people already know about this? Have I been living under a rock perhaps? I had no idea this adorable and functional beauty product existed. At first I was skeptical… like do I really need a mascara especially for my bottom lashes? The answer is yes, yes I do.

The brush is mini, obviously. It’s magic. At least for me. No more smudging a mess while trying to cover my baby bottom lashes. I’m also covering more of them and better and getting a better overall effect. A total winner!

2 – Alien by Thierry Mugler Perfume

The Clinique gal who was making up my face with some new products I wanted to check out smelled just lovely. For real. I finally broke down and asked her what perfume she was wearing and she introduced me to Alien by Thierry Mugler. I had honestly never heard of it. I have heard of Angel made by the same brand. I fell in love with Alien immediately and got myself a bottle.

Another great thing about it is that you can purchase it in a refillable bottle and take it back in to be refilled. Easier on your wallet… and the environment. Win-win!

Also, I scored it for super cheap on Amazon!

Any new products you’ve discovered lately? Have you heard of either of these two?

I put a lot of races (for me) on the list, I don’t plan to run them all. Trying to keep my options open.

So without further ado, the 2013 tentative race schedule, bold being more firm than not.

March 16, 2013 – St. Malachi 5-Miler

April 21, 2013 – Earth Day Challenge Half Marathon

May 18, 2013 – Hy-5K

May 26?, 2013 – Tri for Joe at Coney Island Duathlon

June 15, 2013 – Fish Festival 5K

June 22, 2013 – Soul to Sole 5K

July 7?, 2013 – Lorain Duathlon

July 13, 2013 – James Kerstetter Memorial 5K

July 20, 2013 – Dirty Dog 5K

July 21?, 2013 – Huntington Beach Duathlon

July 28, 2013 – Columbus Giant Eagle Duathlon

August 18?, 2013 – Vermilion Harbor Duathlon

September 28, 2013 – Voices for Recovery 5K

October 19, 2013 – Bay Village Heritage 5K

The focus in the spring with be the Earth Day half. I’m going to be drafting up my training plan today! Excitement!

Any races on tap for you? Any awesome local races I missed here?