First birthday countdown and no party plans

How is it possible that an event planner by day is without birthday plans for her daughter's first birthday? I want to get this party just right, but I don't want to go overboard. How do I "keep it small" without leaving someone out? For Izzy's baptism we invited 80 people! And I don't know that we could have invited less. We stuck to our aunts, uncles and cousins (Izzy's great aunts/uncles) and our very close friends. Among those left off the list were work friends and Izzy's daycare provider.
Now it's time to celebrate her 1st birthday and I really don't know where to draw the line.
If I do a small party at home, we'll end up with roughly 30 people. If I invite aunts and uncles, we'll end up around 80 again and at a hall of some sort. We might be able to afford a party like that, but I don't know that I have the time to plan a proper celebration for 80. (I'm seriously starting to worry about how much this kid's wedding is going to cost.)
So back to having the party at home. Here are some ideas I've been mulling over:

• Apple/harvest theme: clean out the garage and open it up for activities like pumpkin decorating, and bobbing for apples


• Send the dogs to camp so we don't have to worry about Willow eating the cake


• Making the cake myself to save money and make it more personal (God bless anyone who dares to try my baking)


• Tailgating theme: outdoor cooking and set up outdoor furniture, really kind of tricky for Oct. 30, but it has some potential. Just not very kid like

As you can tell, I'm really in the brainstorming stage. I should whipped through this stage 2 months ago and should have a concrete action plan now. Not good. Here's to hoping I can come up with something by this weekend.

WHY AM I NOT RUNNING?

I can't seem to put my finger on it. I know I love running. I know I love the feeling I get after a great work out. I am finding time to myself when the baby is sleeping, or when the husband is home on a Sunday afternoon. So why amd I not running?
Is building up my strength just too overwhelming of a goal? Or maybe it's that I know I want to be pregnant again so why start something I can't see through to completion? Perhaps it's the idea that spending time on me is just too selfish. Or is it everything?
When I first started running in college, I wanted to complete one lap around the track. Then I dared to dream and wanted to run four laps, one full mile. Some may scoff at running just one mile, but I remember when that was a huge challenge for me. It took me four years until I was ready to enter a race and run a 5k. I feel like I'm back at that place. I'm at square one and wanting to run one lap, one mile, one 5k. Yet, maybe this isn't square one. I have the experience of doing it all before. I know so much more about my body and what I like to do that maybe this shouldn't be as daunting. I know that I love having a GPS on to track my progress. I know what tired vs. exhausted feels like. So maybe I shouldn't think of this as being overwhelming. I just need to do it.

Mixing dogs and paddle boarding

Who wouldn't love spending time with a curious energetic 10 month old? And I get so little time with her as it is, that it's a struggle to want "me" time. But there's someone else who's competing for my attention these days.
Willow, the three year old yellow lab has been stealing anything she can get her mouth or paws on. Counter surfing, pantry sneaking, she does it all. So I took an afternoon to spend with Willow and learn something new. We went to Downunder Kayak in Wesport so we could test out a stand up paddle board.
Now, the owner did warn me that I should probably learn how to use the paddle board on my own first. If I had a little more time, I gladly would have. And now that I've done it once, I'll definitely go back to do it on my own. What a peaceful way to workout, core engaged, arms digging into the water, gliding by egrets and beautiful scenery.
What wasn't so peaceful was a 90 lbs lab trying to paw her way back onto the board every 5 minutes. It made me so happy to see Willow swimming around the docks and visiting other kayakers. Every few minutes she'd swim over to me. I'd haul her on board, paddle out where I could stand up and she'd jump off. We went through this routine about a dozen times before I called it quits. It was more about her getting too tired to swim, then me not wanting to haul her on board.
Check out the video to see what I'm talking about.