Purple Shirts

on November 3, 2011

This seasonâ€™s Girls on the Run shirts have arrived! Our color this year is PURPLE. The Husband is thrilled. Hah. He requests orange for next year.

This weekâ€™s lessons focused on gossiping and bullying, two concepts that are relatively (thankfully) new to elementary schoolers but definitely on everyoneâ€™s mind. One of the things we discussed is how gossiping and bullying hurts both the person being attacked as well as the person doing the behavior. We also talked about how bullying can be physical, social, and/or emotional. These lessons always go over really well, and everyone seemed to learn a lot and have fun. The formula for a perfect GOTR lesson!

Next week: weâ€™re running the official Practice 5K. We make it into a big party with a finish line, water station, and prizes for everyone.

IMG_1893 - Copy

The real race is in a month!

Today was very busy â€“ bouncing from one thing to the next. So there were many peanut butter sandwiches and bowls of cereal consumed. Easy and fast. Dinner was fast, too, but very, very delicious.

Keeping frozen brown rice in the fridge makes cooking healthy dinners during the week SO MUCH EASIER. Iâ€™m going to cook and freeze another batch right now, actually!

In the mix:

Brown rice

Scrambled eggs

Black beans

Steamed spinach

Grilled mushrooms

Tomatoes

And Soy Creamy Cherry Chocolate Chip for dessert. Mmmm.

Thought of the Day:

â€œIf you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes.â€ – John Wooden

{ 47 comments }

kalli November 3, 2011, 7:15 pm
oh i love john wooden! great quote caitlin 🙂
Amanda November 3, 2011, 7:31 pm
Isn’t that soy ice cream the best? It’s kind of like vegan Cherry Garcia. I always pick out the cherries and chocolate chunks. 🙂
Katie @ Peace Love and Oats November 3, 2011, 7:41 pm
Girls on the run sounds like so much fun! I was a camp counselor and a CIT and I loved hearing what younger girls had to say about issues like that!
julia November 3, 2011, 7:43 pm
hi caitlin! i’ve been reading your blog for awhile, and this is my first comment. the other night, we were out for thai food, and i was thinking how you store brown rice in the freezer and i asked our server how much it would cost to bring a side of brown rice home. and then, he just gave it to us for free! score! thanks for the inspiration.
- Caitlin November 3, 2011, 7:50 pm
  AWEEEEEEEEEEESOME. That is great! Just seal it up tight!
Emily November 3, 2011, 7:55 pm
Speaking of bullying and aggression in teen girls…I’m taking a social psychology course for my Women’s Studies degree and we had to read “Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls” by Rachel Simmons.
If you have the time I suggest you read it. I cannot recommend it enough. It helped me understand girls relational aggression and it I think it would be really beneficial to Operation Beautiful.
- Caitlin November 5, 2011, 11:21 am
  I’ve flipped through it and it is a GREAT book.
Molly @ RDexposed November 3, 2011, 8:22 pm
We have the first part of that quote in our diabetes classes.
And real men can pull off purple! 😉
Julia H. @ The Petite Spiel November 3, 2011, 9:03 pm
My high school’s colors were purple & white. Whenever a sports team had a game, its players dressed up for school that day–and they often wore nice purple button-up shirts. Tell your husband purple looks good on guys!
Sarena (The Non Dairy Queen) November 3, 2011, 9:04 pm
I freeze rice too! Makes life so much easier on a busy night.

As for the message for the girls, I love what you guys talk with them about. I think it’s really important for kids to know that verbal comments can be just as damaging as physical behavior. Thinking about what you’re going to say before you say it and how it will effect you/the other person is really such an important lesson.
Sarah November 3, 2011, 9:07 pm
I’ve been hesitant to try soy ice cream because I’m not a huge fan of soy milk, but I have tried coconut milk ice cream- deeeelicious! Maybe I’ll give soy another go because there aren’t too many flavors in coconut at my grocery store, and cherry chocolate chip sounds amazing!
- Caitlin November 5, 2011, 11:22 am
  ohmigod coconut ice cream is my fav. it gives the ice cream such a yummy flavor.
Tanya @ Vegan Faith November 3, 2011, 9:20 pm
I love the purple shirts this year! Ha! I voted hot pink for next season!
Annette @ EnjoyYourHealthyLife November 3, 2011, 9:35 pm
Wahoo for purple! Love ’em.

Good quote-thanks girl!
Michelle November 3, 2011, 10:00 pm
Although my daughter is only six, it is surprising what they pick up from the adults in their lives. Whether it’s from seeing a few minutes of tv shows or listening to moms talk, they could probably identify masked gossiping. I’ve cleaned up my “discussions” with friends and taken a serious look at the immediate influences on my daughter.

Purple rocks!
- Caitlin November 5, 2011, 11:22 am
  Agree – totally.
Savannah @ Sweet and Savvy November 3, 2011, 10:18 pm
My boyfriend’s favorite color is orange, and mine is purple… too funny, but I am LOVING the shirts! 🙂 You make such an awesome coach!
Amber @ Busy, Bold, Blessed November 3, 2011, 10:28 pm
Dinner looks yummy!
kathleen @ the daily crumb November 3, 2011, 11:07 pm
yummm. that ice cream looks delicious. i just tried so delicious the other day and am hooked!
- Michael Thomas November 4, 2011, 6:24 am
  very delicious you like it
Khushboo November 4, 2011, 12:51 am
Great quote- I like this new addition to many of your recent posts!
Alyssa November 4, 2011, 3:52 am
I love the lesson! It’s interesting about what age kids start to encounter bullying. I think elementary school/middle school where the times I noticed the most bullying/teasing, but mostly it was from the “troublemakers” in the neighborhood. Great idea to have it as a lesson, learning how to fight it at any age is so important 🙂
Kristyn November 4, 2011, 6:12 am
Such a royal purple, too! Orange sounds like a good color for next season…I vote that too!

Our practice 5k is next Wednesday and our race is in 2 weeks. Hopefully all the snow we got will be melted by then. You’re psyched, I’m psyched, we are psyched for our 5k event!

Love the upcoming book cover too…very exiting!

Happy friday!
- Caitlin November 5, 2011, 11:24 am
  Oh I hope the snow is melted, too 🙂 Whining kids at a 5K is not so much fun – that’s how my first GOTR 5k was.
Kristen (inspiredbydooce) November 4, 2011, 6:18 am
A coworker of mine just had to deal with a bullying incident in her 6 year old’s classroom. The teacher hadn’t taught them (or even really aknowledged to himself) about the social and psychological side of bullying. Luckily the school was really good about it and things are better now but it is so important to talk about all kinds of bullying. Yay for Girls on the Run!
Michael Thomas November 4, 2011, 6:21 am
my beat friend like purple shirt.very testy photos.
you will be my friend.
Chelsea @ One Healthy Munchkin November 4, 2011, 7:42 am
It’s so great that you’re teaching these kids about bullying while they’re young and before they hit high school. Hopefully if all organizations and institutions start doing this, we’ll be able to avoid the tragedies that result from bullying. 🙁
Brooke @ sweats & sweets November 4, 2011, 8:02 am
We had our official practice 5K and the girls did an awesome job! I was so proud of them! For every mile completed they got a necklace, Gatorade. Their favorite parts were getting stamped for every lap. Their arms were covered! Plus we allowed them to spray paint their hair with hot pink 😉 the parents were just as excited as we were!
Emily November 4, 2011, 8:19 am
Our race is the weekend before thanksgiving in Cincinnati. I am a running buddy for a grl (first time). I wanted to coach this year, but I am taking a class two nights per week, so I figured as long as I was participating, I was helping.
Good luck with the practice 5k!
Amy November 4, 2011, 8:28 am
Our shirts are teal — probably not a good color for a man either!! 🙂 Our practice 5k was on Wednesday and was an absolute blast. The girls did great and I think will make more of an effort over the last few practices to run more and walk less!!
Cess November 4, 2011, 9:32 am
Speaking of bullying i saw this on facebook…

A teacher in New York was teaching her class about bullying and gave them the following exercise to perform. She had the children take out a piece of paper and told them to crumple it up, stomp on it and really mess it up but do not rip it. Then she had them unfold the paper, smooth it out and look at how scarred and dirty is was. She then told them to tell it theyâ€™re sorry. Now, even though they ……………said they were sorry and tried to fix the paper, she pointed out all the scars they left behind. And that those scars will never go away no matter how hard they tried to fix it. That is what happens when a child bullyâ€™s another child, they may say theyâ€™re sorry, but the scars are there forever. The looks on the faces of the children in the classroom told her the message hit home.
- Caitlin November 5, 2011, 11:26 am
  I think this is going around! Someone else mentioned it and my GOTR girl told me about it. I love the metaphor.
Paj November 4, 2011, 9:52 am
Just to clarify, are you freezing the cooked rice and then thawing in the fridge? And it isn’t soggy?
- Caitlin November 5, 2011, 11:27 am
  No – out of freezer and directly into a wok to heat. You want to make sure as much of the moisture is removed from the cooked rice before freezing.
Camels & Chocolate November 4, 2011, 10:15 am
Funny, my husband’s favorite color actually IS purple–which was convenient, as it’s also mine and that meant I didn’t have to make a huge push for it to be our wedding color, as he automatically wanted that!
Cat @Breakfast to Bed November 4, 2011, 11:42 am
I’d run 3.1 every day if there were prizes at the end!
Nancy (Beyoutiful Fitstyle) November 4, 2011, 12:33 pm
Oh I LOVE brown rice. We make big batches too and just keep it in the refrigerator for lunches and dinners during the week. Adding in the scrambled eggs in yummy and makes me feel like I’m eating healthier version of chinese food sometimes. HA.
Amy November 4, 2011, 1:04 pm
I just want to say that after seeing you always post your delicious looking steamed greens, I have started adding spinach into everything I cook, and it is freakin’ amazing. I made this 2 nights ago: sauteed red and orange peppers and spinach, 2 eggs and brown rice with a yummy stir-fry sauce. All that without even going to the grocery store. Thanks. 🙂
- tasha - the clean eating mama November 4, 2011, 1:49 pm
  Just gotta say I love you Grover Icon!!!!:)
- Caitlin November 5, 2011, 11:27 am
  Yummy 🙂 Greens rule. Also love your grover icon!
Kellie November 4, 2011, 1:15 pm
you can cook rice and freeze it??? How long does it last for?!
- Caitlin November 5, 2011, 11:27 am
  A month? I’ll do a post on this soon!
tasha - the clean eating mama November 4, 2011, 1:48 pm
This looks amazing! The fresh tomatoes with the rice… yummmm!!!
Amber K November 4, 2011, 1:54 pm
Love that quote at the end. So true.

I love having brown rice pre-made. In fact, I just made some last night. Makes meals go so much more quickly throughout the week.
Amy November 4, 2011, 9:33 pm
Yay Caitlin! I’m really excited to volunteer at NYC’s end of season 5K. I’m not old enough to be a running buddy, but I’m getting a bunch of girls from my school’s grack team to come out and help with the face-painting before the run. We’re going to run the race with the girls too. It’s going to be a blast! I hope your practice 5K goes well! 🙂
- Caitlin November 5, 2011, 11:28 am
  How fun! Thank you for volunteering Amy 🙂
Sophie @ threetimesf November 12, 2011, 11:09 am
I love that quote!

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