Foto Friday: Wild Wedding

Remember when I told you my friend Stephanie was engaged? Well, now she’s hitched and I was lucky enough to be one of her bridesmaids.  Some of my favorite shots from the festivities:

Bachelorette party, complete with homemade shirts

Clennon and I at the rehearsal dinner

the bride and I before the ceremony

the entire bridal party!

In the limo

Pit stop at Tumble Inn

and another at Senators Inn

Cory & I before our grand entrance

With some of of my besties

And my hot date...who likes to twirl!

It was a super fun night… with LOTS of pictures, plenty of beer, and a bunch of laughs.  I’m so happy I was able to be a part of such a wonderful day!

Why I Run

I’m currently obsessed with reading running blogs.  One of my favorites is the Runner’s Lounge.  Most of the blogs I follow have been featured in the Lounge and they offer podcasts, videos, and more to help all  runners–from expert to novice (like me).

Recently, they’ve been featuring blogger’s answers to the question:  “Why do you run?”     Here’s mine:

Why I Run

Because I never thought I could
Because now I know I can

Because it makes me feel powerful, capable, and strong

Because I like challenges
Because my biggest competition is myself

Because every run is a personal triumph, if not a personal record

Because I have definition in my legs like never before
Because I’m in better shape at 30 than I was at 20

Because racing is fun!

Because I’ve yet to come in last
Because I’ve yet to come in first

Because it’s okay to run away from your problems if you’re actually running

Because rate x time = distance.  Always.
Because no matter how slow I am, I’m faster than the slump on the couch

Because you can’t get arrested for a runner’s high

So… why do you run?  (or bike… or golf… or whatever)

BUGS!

I think I’ve been pretty  cordial with bugs over the years.  I don’t freak out when I see them (unless they’re jumping out of my shoe),  I don’t kill them unless they’re INSIDE my house, and I generally respect that they’re part of the natural ecosystem, so I let them be.  But now, I’m soooooooooooooo over them. 

In the past couple of weeks, bugs have, uh, bugged me in the following ways:

• My dog has fleas, requiring a great deal of cleaning, laundering and spraying*
• There are termites in my bf’s apartment (at least I think that’s what they are)
• I think there’s a cricket colony in my backyard
• I saw a SLUG, a locust, a wasp, and about 7 bumblebees while I was mowing.

 I can’t wait for the first frost!

—————-

*note:  I realize this is small potatoes compared to what Hannah has dealt with, but STILL!

Foto Friday: Minnesota Vacation

Last week, I was in Minnesota on vacation.  My aunt and uncle have a cabin up there and they let us stay for free.  I posted a bunch of pictures on facebook, so I won’t bore everyone with ALL of them, but here are some notable photos/inside jokes/general funny stuff:

This sign pretty much sums it up!

Roxie took a swim. And by "took" I mean "was forced to" :)

We were not lacking in the chip department. Aunt L. even bought us some Funyuns... cuz we said they were the only things missing!

Highlight of the trip: Getting up on waterskiis for the first time!

I was super stoked!

We spent a lot of time in the sun

The boys fished

but I think my mom caught the biggest one!

We also went out to eat a lot! The Gosh Dam Place...

Home of the Gosh Dam meatloaf!

And the "place in the woods" the last night (can't remember the name)

home of DELISH pizza & pasta (and a bunch of other stuff!)

Back at the cabin, we had homemade ice cream (store bought for the preggos)

And played layed some bags

Most importantly, we spent lots of QT together (and took lots of pictures. this one is my fave!)

I can't wait to go back, THANKS Aunt Linda & Uncle Denny!

Compliments

I’m having kind of a crappy week.

There’s really nothing wrong, per se.  I just haven’t really gotten back into the swing of things after vacation and my friend’s wedding (more on that later… promise).  Plus, the weather has been kinda funky and I’m re-adjusting to living alone again (upside: more time for blogging!)

When I’m feeling yucky-for-no-reason, I like to think about all the nice things people have said to me.   Sure, we all like to hear that we’re smart and good-looking, but there are a few things people have said to me that have “stuck.”  In fact, I have a list:

• After telling a friend that I’d signed up for a writing class he said: “you’re such a do-er.”  I took that as a compliment. I like being thought of as a do-er (as opposed to a “thinker” or a “complainer” or a “dreamer” I suppose).
• My co-worker Janet told me that she thinks I’m “one of those people who is out to change the world.”  I like that, too.
• My boyfriend told me that my friends are lucky to have me in their lives and that I’m one of the most genuine people he has ever met. He also said I have nice ankles.  He was joking about the ankles.  I hope he wasn’t joking about the first part!
• One friend called me the best writer she knows.  Another tagged me in a facebook thing-y as the smartest person she knows.  I don’t know about best or smartest, but I like that people think I’m capable.
• About a million people told me I looked good in the pictures from the wedding.  I’m not going to lie– that made me feel good, superficial or not!

UPDATE: I remembered two more:   1) someone once called me charming, which I think is a great word AND a great compliment  b) someone also once told me that I was very well put-together.  I disagree, but I’ll take it!!

Giving someone a genuine, heartfelt compliment is hard sometimes. It’s hard to know what will touch people and what will come off as insincere.

What are the best compliments you’ve ever received?

(and, please, this isn’t a Cari Pity Party post, I’m not fishing for compliments myself.  Seriously)

Audience Participation: Help me choose my submission

I have lots of blogging to do, but for now: a Poll!  I need your help choosing my submission for the National Gallery of Writing.

I want something that is personal, but not too personal, that can stand alone, that is representative of the types of writing I do and that says something about me as a person.  I’ve narrowed it down to a few choices, but I’d like your help selecting the ONE favorite I should submit.

Here are the links in case you’re not intimately familiar with EVERY one of my blog posts.  :)

Of Rice and Men

30 Years Young

Operation Cutback

Foto Friday: Dear Me

A SoIL Christmas

My Best of C-U List

To All the Jobs I’ve Had Before

101 Weird Food Quirks

Mad about Mad Men

Tour de Philo

Fellow bloggers:  What are your favorite posts from your blog.  Consider posting them in the Gallery (and by “consider” I mean “DO IT!!”)

Foto Friday: Done

Okay, so it’s not completely done.  There are touch-ups to do.  And fascia boards to fix.  And some paint spills to clean up.  But, for the most part, my monster painting project is D.O.N.E.–done!

I could write a hundred posts about the project– the ridiculous number of steps that go into painting a house, how much longer it took than expected, the 8.5 million little setbacks we had, how we completely lost motivation at the end– but I wont.   Pictures are more fun anyway!

The before shot

There was LOTS of scraping and sanding

Trying to choose the perfect shade of buttery yellow

Prepping to spray

The best $50 I ever spent-- renting an airless sprayer was soooo worth it!

But we still needed TONS of supplies

And ladders

FINALLY color! (Note: it's not yellow.)

Progress...

We had LOTS of helpers throughout the project. Kyle's step dad was the only one to leave a mark.

Probably *not* the safest way to get to the top... but it worked!

the detail work on the porch was my project-- it required HOURS w/a tiny brush

My DIY contribution: spray paint existing numbers and mailbox black instead of buying new

I think it turned out pretty well...

The after shot

From another angle

Now that the paint is (mostly) done, I want to work on the landscaping.  And the fence.  And the sidewalk.   And paint the inside of theporch. And maybe even a couple interior rooms.

Or maybe not.  The paint fumes must be going to my head!

#3

Yesterday was the Second Annual Run4Raley, an event put on by a local family who lost their daughter to mitochondrial disease last year.  (Read more and donate at run4raley.com).

As you may recal, I participated last year as a walker (and a biker… see this post), but this year I signed up to run!

I knew I was going to run the race for a while, but I haven’t been training AT ALL.  In fact, I haven’t been doing much of anything for the last 4 or 5 weeks, so I was VERY concerned about my fitness level.  I managed to get 3 runs in last week, so I knew I wouldn’t DIE… but that’s about it.

The race was good… not too hot ( a blessing for August) and there were lots of people there I knew.   I was a little intimidated by the small number of runners, though. The other races I’ve done have been MUCH larger, and I was afraid I might come in last.

By the time the race started, I felt GREAT.  I told myself to stay slow, run my own race and just to finish.   I started off pretty strong.  I reasoned with myself that if I could keep the “pack” in my eyesight, I would guarantee that I wouldn’t come in last.  About a mile in, the pack had thinned, but there were a few runners who were at or near my pace.

There was one woman who was doing a run/walk method. It quickly became clear that she and I were running at about the same pace.   After the half-way turn, this started to psyche me out a bit.  I was getting winded and hot and my legs actually started to hurt (this never happens), so I decided at about the 2 mile mark that I could probably replicate her walk/run and maintain my current pace.   I walked with her for ONE of her walking segments and then started running again.

After a couple of intervals of this,  I realized that a) her pace was actually a lot FASTER than mine and b) the start-stop wasn’t working for me.   Plus, there was NO WAY I was going to have my friends see me WALK at the end… so I finished strong.   And you know what?  My overall time was almost a MINUTE better than my last 2.  Yeah!

I’ve been bitten by the running bug again… Some things I learned:

• I really need to learn to start off slowly.  My first mile was WAAYYY too fast to maintain for the entire run. MUST.LEARN.PACING.
• As much as I loved supporting this cause, I need to look for courses that are more interesting.  Out-and-back on a country road was pretty BO-ring.
• It really does help having people at the finish line cheering you on.  This was the first time I actually KNEW the people cheering and it was a big help.
• I need cuter running clothes (see below)