Thanksgiving Weekend 2014, Everly's Dedication

Hmm, haven't posted on the blog for over 2 months... Why not throw one up today?

I don't like to post when I have nothing to talk about and obviously I need time to post. Today the stars have aligned. I have a topic and I have time (for the moment).

So, where to start? Everly's been sick all weekend. Her first little cold virus and it broke my heart. She was all stuffed up and so pitiful. Luckily my parents were here and they were a huge help as always. There were plenty of cuddles to go around.

Our friends from KY visited and mom and dad encouraged us to go hang out with them for awhile Saturday night. It was really great to see them and relax for a little bit.

We went to Nightbell, which is a newer speakeasy type restaurant/lounge. It's Katie Button's second place in Asheville (her first restaurant is Curate and if you're in Asheville you should make reservations and go because it's the best place in town in my opinion!). We really enjoyed the drinks and the small plates we tried. The margarita was delicious and the lobster roll was SO GOOD.

Sunday morning we got up for breakfast before church. Everly was being dedicated at church so I had bought her a beautiful cream colored dress for the event. I'm sure you can guess what happened. Holy poop storm. #firsttimemom

Should've took her to breakfast in her PJs and changed her at the church. Oh well. Luckily I had packed a second dress.

The dedication went great and she LOVED being up on stage. She's such a ham. I was just really grateful for the prayer from our church family.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Have you started decorating for Christmas yet?

Get any good deals on Black Friday?

.:weekend in the smokies:.

friday [after my mini meltdown] brad and i headed to tennessee for a weekend with friends. after we made it through the ridiculous traffic we checked our cabin. it had been raining for most of the day but it gave us the opportunity to see the 'smoke' over the mountains. beautiful.

when shannon and chris arrived we went to dinner at the smokey mountain brewery. the food was just alright but the beer was great.

saturday we got up and headed to cade's cove, where we were able to spot several white tailed deer and turkey. after lunch we hiked up to grotto falls. it was a great hike and we also saw a black bear on the way up.

it was a great weekend, and it was so good to see shannon and chris. even if i saw shann every weekend it wouldn't be enough! we lived together for 4 years and i forgot how much i missed just being in the same house as her. i'm blessed to have her as friend.

thank you all for your sweet comments and encouragement about my last post. i hadn't heard of post marathon blues but i'd say i've got all the symptoms! it's nice to know i'm not the only one who's ever been through it, and hopefully i'll get back to my 'normal' soon!

rearview mirror:::: january 2013

running:::: 

i finished january with 137 miles. that's the most i've ever ran in a month! i ran my first 30k, my first 20 miler, and ran a new PR for the 10k. 

i've been very happy with my marathon training so far. i can't believe i only have a month left. i've missed a run here and there, but i've hit all my long runs, and even hit a little higher mileage earlier than what was on the plan [which allowed me to put in a second 20 miler, which i'm happy about]. 

weight training::::

i miss this... a lot. i made the decision to run this marathon back in the summer, before i started training with fitness poynters. it's really important to me and i want to see it through, but i do miss feeling strong  and toned. i know running burns calories, but for me and my body, i think lifting makes me feel better and gives me better results for my time. unfortunately i haven't figured out to manage my time enough that i can do both.

reading::::
i finished the matched series by ally condie. it was okay, passed the time and attaches you to the characters like most series do, but it wasn't a must read.

i started reading ulysses by james joyce, to get a start on one of my 2013 goals, and it might not have been the best choice, but i'm trying to get into it.

as far as Bible reading goes, i'm in isaiah now and i'm doing pretty well at studying beth moore's 'john.' the only problem is that i'm working in it when i'd normally been just reading the Bible, so my Bible progress has slowed.

2013 goals::::
i crossed off one thing here this month when i completed my 30k for my 30th birthday. i came thisclose to getting my sub hour 10k, but almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, right?

i'm doing terribly with the computer time goal, which may have been a 'bit' unrealistic. i did deactivate my FB profile halfway through the month to see if that helped, and while it did, it hasn't made as much of a difference as i'd hoped.

brad and i went to a new connect group at church last sunday and again today. we really like it so far and i hope we can continue to attend and make new friends!

life::::
january was a difficult month, for all the usual reasons plus some. i always fight the urge to get depressed in january, i think it's a combination of the holidays being over and the weather. the holidays are so busy, we're usually surrounded by family, have all the happy decorations up, then you have to take it all down and everyone goes back home... it can get depressing!

Thunder Road Half Marathon:::: #9 of 12 in 2012

thunder road half marathon, charlotte, north carolina

half mary # 10

race# 9 of 12 in 2012

time:  2:52:40

expo::::

my friend becca and i drove to charlotte on friday afternoon and arrived at the expo around 6pm. i honestly thought the expo was a joke. it was at the blake hotel in downtown charlotte. we had to pay 5 bucks to park for 30 minutes. not cool. the expo was very sparse and i think it's pretty ridiculous to charge so much when we're obviously not going to be in there for long. i'm not sure if it was the race or the hotel charging the money, but shame on you whoever it was. 

side note: we had made a point to avoid elevation charts, but stumbled upon this shirt at the expo:

then we freaked out a little!

race morning::::

becca's amazing cousin leah (and her husband keith) were nice enough to let us crash at their house on friday night. becca and i got up early and headed downtown.

we didn't have any trouble parking (at the nascar hall of fame). it was pure luck, but we ran into a girl who works at the adjoining convention center. she showed us how to get next door without walking outside (it was cold!) and we were able to hang out, stretch, and use the bathrooms in the convention center. 

we waited until about 740am (5 minutes before the start of the race) to get over to the start line. it worked out fine. there were no corrals so of course there was mayhem at the beginning (there was a full marathon starting at the same time). 

the race::::

i was really excited to run this race with becca. this was her second half, but she may or may not have warned me that she couldn't remember the last time she'd ran. it was great though, having a friend made the race FLY by. the race was very hilly. continual climbs without much downhill/flats. 

most of the course was through residential areas, becca and i had fun claiming our dream homes!

the course support was great, lots of spectators and some bands along the way. 

of note::: i tried margarita shot bloks for the first time... YUCK. i should have known, considering i don't even like salt on my real margaritas, but i thought they were worth a shot. i ended up only using two of them for the whole race, when i usually eat a whole pack (6). depending on how training goes, i might use them again if i have trouble with cramping, but other than that i'll probably stick to the other flavors. 

rear view mirror:::: september 2012

running::::
after a slow two months, i picked it up [a little]. finished with 38 miles for the month, but more important than the numbers, i finished my first half since july. i was beyond worried that i would struggle [new meal plan, new workout plan, etc] but as Jill mentioned to me, apparently cross training suits me! 

i finished the cherokee harvest half marathon, which was number 7 of 12 in 2012. it really hit me this month (the one year anniversary of my first half marathon) how far i've come. this time last year i'd just finished my first half and who knew i'd have finished 8 total now! it really is proof that you can do what you want. i used to think running a half was crazy talk. now i've signed up for my first full [and that IS crazy talk! lol]

weight training::::
september wrapped up my 11th week of my new training plan. i am losing the weight slowly but surely. it's crazy how strong i feel though! i really wish i had one of those things to measure body fat percentage... I think it'd be very interesting to see how much that has changed. another interesting thing, i actually weighed what i do right now around april of this year [then managed to gain back the 18 pounds i'd lost plus some] but my clothes fit SO differently from how they did then. i put on a pair of capris yesterday and they literally almost fell off. it was awesome! so even though the scale might be moving a little slower than i'd like, i know i'm gaining lean muscle in the process and that's VERY important to me!

reading::::

crossed:  i am really enjoying this series but unfortunately the last book doesn't come out until november. it's a cross between the hunger games and the maze runner series. set in the future where the government has decided that we are overstimulated and it keeps us from reaching our full potential. so they get rid of so much  art, writings, etc and leave them with the 100 paintings, 100 songs, so on and so forth. they also match them with their mates and kill the citizens on their 70th birthdays. but there is an uprising and a love story involved. 

this is why you're fat: i downloaded this book while i was in tybee in june. i was out of books and i was also mad at myself for how i'd let all the weight i'd lost come right back. i quit reading it when i decided to try the fitness poynters plan. i went back and finished it when i realized that the third book in the crossed series wasn't out yet! it all made a lot of sense, but i didn't agree with everything in it. her meal plan is pretty good though. if you want it though, i'd recommend getting it in printed form vs. the digital copy. it's a book you'd need readily available and want to be able to flip through it. 

left behind & tribulation force: i am really enjoying this series. i'd started reading it a few years back [my mom had read them and recommended them] but honestly they scared me and i wasn't ready to read them. now i can't put them down but when i do it's mostly to spend more time reading the Bible. i know they're just one person's interpretation of the end of times, but i've really enjoyed them and they've helped me to become more focused on my walk with God. 

life::::

• my best friend got married last month! we traveled to ky for the beautiful ceremony which was in a vineyard. it was so wonderful to celebrate with friends that have become family over the years.
• we were able to drive up to cincinnati after the wedding and watch the reds play with brad's parents. they're in the playoffs so brad's pretty pumped. 
• i held a bridal shower at my house for another one of my friends that's getting married. it was the first thing like that i've ever hosted and i was pretty pleased with how it turned out. 
• i got to drive home and see my family and also my sweet aunt who is battling breast cancer. i always love time with the fam and it was especially great to see sherri. she's an amazing person who's fighting a battle right now. it would mean the world to me if you all would keep her in your prayers.
• brad took me to the pumpkin patch (my favorite fall activity)!

Get Your Good On!

today was one of those walking on sunshine days. you know what i'm talking about? 

it's my last day of my working streak [i have the next five days off], which is always reason for celebration. not that i don't like my job [because i love it] but i also love sleeping past 5am. 

after work i treated myself to some new workout clothes. saturday is the halfway point (6 weeks) of the training plan i've been doing and i've not missed a single workout. hard work = lululemon, right? 

not only did i find three super cute tops, i got to spend some time talking to the amazing ladies that work in the showroom, alex and lindsay. alex has a yoga blog called Yoga for Awesomeness so go give her some love! the asheville marathon will be lindsay's first full marathon too, so we're going to try to run together sometime. 

i'm also excited because alex is teaching a complimentary yoga class at a local gym [hard exercise works] on tuesday and i'm off so i'm going to check it out! so i met some great girls, made plans to workout and got some beautiful new shirts!

the blue middle shirt and the black shirt on the right are actually the same [turbo tank], i loved it so much that i couldn't just get one. i've learned my lesson with lulu. if you like it buy it because it probably won't be there if you decide to go back and get it! the one on the far left is a no limits tank. love them all and only wish i could wear them all day everyday. 

from lulu i headed over to manna food bank. this is something i've been really excited about! i decided to start volunteering again (i haven't since pharmacy school!) so i attended orientation. we got to learn a lot about hunger in WNC and what manna is doing to eradicate it. i signed up for this about 2 weeks ago and have really been counting down the days. i'm really ready to get involved and hopefully i'll be able to get started next week! 

tomorrow i'm heading to KY... i'm staying with my parents tomorrow night then heading on to louisville to see some of my bests for shannon's bachelorette party!  i can't wait to see everyone and have some fun [although i'll probably be regretting it come sunday morning].

have a great weekend!!!

Best Long Weekend Ever

This weekend our friends from KY came to visit and we had so much fun! It was all part of my grand scheme to get them to move to NC. I'll let you know how that works out! Becca and I are training for the Run The Bluegrass (her first half marathon) so it was awesome to do our long run together on Saturday. She is having some weird foot pain though, any ideas on what it could be?

It was so great to catch up and show them around Asheville. And of course I didn't take a single picture. Whoops. 

Yesterday I got to run outside on one of my favorite trails. It felt so good to off the horrible treadmill. The weather was perfect and I have really missed running in the parks! 

And I've watched at least 10 episodes of Gossip Girl. Super productive I know. 

What's your favorite thing to do when you have time off around the house?

Catch Up!

Friday Brad and I loaded up the car and headed to the Bluegrass State. I made us a new road mix and he did most of the driving (love it when that happens).

So I put my feet up, rocked out to the road mix, and read once we'd listened to the CD all the way through. I started the Sookie Stackhouse books a few weeks ago at the insistence of one of my friends. She pretty much always recommends great books (she introduced me to the Hunger Games) so I gave them a shot. They're pretty good and I'm reading the seventh one now.



source

I usually like series books, I like getting to know the characters more than you would in just one book. I also read the Stephanie Plum books and just downloaded the newest one to my Kindle, but I can't quit reading the others long enough to start it.


source

 These are great to read while you're running, because they're mindless but fun.

I signed up to run a 5K this weekend in Asheville, but one of our friends from pharmacy school decided to get married this weekend and we wanted to be there for it. It was a really great weekend and it was so nice to see some of our friends.

I may or may not have suggested we all get fro-yo while we caught up.
I did my long run on Saturday and I'm going to do a little recap of that later. It was full of memories!

For now I'm off to get my 5 miler in!