Happy Birthday, Brother

My wittle baby brother isn't quite so little anymore.

Today he turns 22!

Why can't we sometimes travel back in time.. Just to fight and wrestle and his scrawny butt pin me down. , to get in arguements over whose turn it was to feed the dog, to share a bed when it was scary weather outside, to chase each other from room to room around the wall as fast as we could, to dare each other to climb in the dryer and close the person in it, to make bathroom and hall forts with all the cover and pillows in the house to protect us from tornados...... to hear the words Goodnight, I love you before bed every single night.

I am proud of what he has become throughout all of lifes trials.

He is my brother who played his hardest and had an excuse to be fightin' mad when the team lost,

who was an example of not letting people walk over you all the time,

who could always make me cry with just a hug,

who can be the most caring and gentle person as anyone on the earth, and macho the next.

 I know now that since we won't see each other much, each phone call will make us closer and closer.

 Thank you for always being there and listening..

 .....which you had to when I "mommy-ed" you our entire childhood,

and yet you still loved me :)

I am so very thankful for you and hope you know how much your cared about and loved!

 I know God has so much in store for your life, and can't wait to see how talented, smart, and successful you become.

I hope your birthday is beyond great! and you take a little time to celebrate. Don't spend it in the books!!

I LOVE YOU.

Stepping It Up

Found this on pinterest while I was trying to wake up this morning. When I was training for my half marathon last summer, this proved to be very true. I posted it today to tell myself.. and you.

I fell off of the workout/running train during all the wedding planning. However, I did end up losing weight the week of the wedding. Having an awesome cook of a husband now, we eat GOOD (and lack workouts) and most of the time it wouldn't be meals that Weight Watchers, or Biggest Loser would approve of, but as long as we practice self control and portion size, why not enjoy?!

Ok, ok... I haven't been good at portion size. and the self control department pretty much sucks too. This week I started eating smaller portions bc it was getting out of hand. After a month, getting back on track is a must.

So not only am I eating a little better, I'm bumping up the exercise.

This week I decided to plan out workouts.

Monday - run 2 miles

Tuesday - run 2-3 miles

Wednesday - elliptical and strength training

Thursday - run 3-4 miles

Friday - run 3-4 miles

Saturday - run 3 miles??

Sunday - REST 

I don't know. It's at least something to go by with goals in mind. I'm trying to increase mileage tolerance with no walking.. but of course have to build up. Next week my goal is to not walk for three miles? We will see.

Today, I set out running in the same neighborhood as yesterday, but went a completely different route. I ran in the same direction until I reached 2 miles. Running more was what I had planned if I could manage. I did. After walking 2 mins, I started running again.. I did alternate running and walking mile 3 and 4. Total again to 5 miles with last mile a cool down walk.

The Splits:

Mile 1 - 10:03

Mile 2 - 10:00

Mile 3 - 11:59

Mile 4 - 11:48

Mile 5 - 15:43 (Cool Down)

First off, I beat my time for yesterday! Just a few seconds faster is all I needed to put a smile on my face and say a Thank You! I also felt like throwing up because it was SO hot. My moron self went a little before 10AM when it was already high 70s.

Hey Smiley. Ya nasty.

 Oh but this is how I felt.

 I was feeling dehydrated. Someone told me when you get high cramps, its dehydration. Luckily I wasn't far from where I parked my car and was headed back.. I stopped and got a couple of sips of water and wiped my face. Then it was time for a cool down. Finally.

My right arm jelly made sure it told me its time to tone it up. Chaffing WITH bodyglide. But on one arm? The majority of the time during the last mile I walked with my fist on my hip.

When I got back to the car, I did some good stretching. I really failed to do that towards the end of my training last time.. unless it was after a long run. This go round I'm not taking any chances and being serious. Every night I plan to stretch a little.. its ridiculous how tight my body is. Andrew makes fun of me when he sees me stretch in the floor. His words.. "You wouldn't have made it in college baseball. They sit on your back to push you down to the ground." Maybe that's why I didn't go out for the team?

Walking up the stairs after my run-- ouch. Already. Crazy how soreness happens so fast. I knew I needed to do something fast.. so I chugged a protien shake and jumped in the COLD pool for an ice bath.

 While standing there, I read the rest of The Hunger Games Trilogy. What do I do with my life now that the story is over??! Any new books you can suggest I read now?

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Why do I have an obsession with tennis shoes now??? WHYYYY?!

I want these. Bad.

The End.

Gettin' It Back-

Yesterday afternoon after church, Andrew showed me a couple of different neighborhoods that would be "safe" places to run in. This one won me over!  It's less than 5 miles from our place and was easy for me to get to.

I loved the looooong stretch of sidewalk up and down the entrance road.  I did the majority of my running here. My goal today was push 2miles without stopping. and I did IT! minus the 3 seconds it took me to take this pic.

 Eventually I ended up going through the actual neighborhood. By this time, I had completed my 2 miles and had intentions to walk until I totaled atleast 4 miles.

 Thanks Mom for calling and talking to me and making time fly! and I was able to keep a good pace.

The area is HUGE and provides a place for me to log mannny miles.. if needed.. one day :).

This neighborhood is beautiful as well!

 street shot.

 Today I had the feeling of accomplishment. I no longer want to have to take walk breaks, so little by little, mile by mile, I am going to work my way up and GET IT BACK! but better than before.

Todays run:

Mile 1 - 10:09

Mile 2 - 10:10

So proud that I was able to keep my pace! I never stay that close.

So then I started walking to finish out todays cardio. Total was 5 miles for the day at a hair over one hour. It felt great!! I did some stretching after.. and could already feel my quads walking up the stairs. Love outcomes like that!!

Since I was feeling the mus-cles today, I had a protein shake! Should have been doing it all along.. so I started today. Do you know how long it has been since I had chocolate milk?? It tasted oh so good.

Having these new places to run has me SO excited to train! I'm seriously..seriously.. thinking about a half marathon in October. If I can get to the point again to where I'm really comfortable with 7-9 miles.. I'm gonna do it!! I'm already telling myself that I AM so that I can work towards that goal!

Weekend Life

Our last two weekends have been pretty busy.  Andrew had to do a little overtime work (which we are SO thankful for) and it was only for a couple of hours each day, checking on things. I got to tag along after we got permission from Boss Man.

Boy am I glad I did. Here are pictures of what I got to see.

B.E.A.U.tiful!

 Horseback riding on the beach?! Yes, please! Another on the To Do list.

 It was insane how carefree the deer are.  We drove by and they were just crossing the road and didn't even look.  Good thing my daddy wasn't with us. We would have def gotten kicked off of this island.

peek-a-boo

The beach houses here are awesome. Some people are nice, some people are snooty.

Our ride around this scenic route? Oh just the gator.

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After an afternoon of walking around downtown after work, we strolled to get some yummy goodness.

 Who needs a cupcake.... give me a bowl of icing.

 But it was sooooo good! Cheesecake baked inside. ahhhh.

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The city has a Friday Night Movie Night for the public going on right now that is FREE! This weekend they played the movie Thor.

Not exactly our ideal movie to see, but you can't beat free entertainment.

They had a huge inflatable movie screen on the outside of a pretty big park downtown.

 You just bring a blanket and chill out.

 Maybe do some yoga.... meditating. Whatever this is...

 No outside food or drink allowed inside, so they had a few food trucks set up to chose from.

We stuck with BBQ.  The Holy City was the sandwich of choice for us both: A plain ole BBQ sandwich beer braised pork on brioche, added BBQ Bacon,with a side of Goatcheese and Cheddar Mac.

 I had already slathered it in my choice of "Q".. Mustard Q.

 The sandwich was amazing.. although I was regretting not getting a small cup of the "Q" to keep pouring on it. I like my BBQ. Words can't express how great the mac and cheese was. We are now fans of goatcheese surprisingly. We did wish that the helping was bigger.. The pickles tasted homemade also. Prices weren't bad at all. We were happy customers to say the least.

.....and then we waited.

 and waited....

He mistakenly thought the movie would start around 7. We got there at 6ish not knowing how crowded it could be. 

We kept seeing people walking around with HUGE bags of Kettle Popcorn. Oh.my.gosh. We ate half of it before the movie even started and that was AFTER we had already had dinner just a little earlier.

When 8:15ish rolled around, and we had waited 2 hours, they finally started to play the movie. Like I said, it wasn't a movie we would choose to go see in theaters, rent, or buy.. but for the cost of..um.. FREE, we liked it pretty well.

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I can't stop saying how much I love this place! Truely blessed to live here. Even more blessed to be able to say now I HAVE A JOB!-got the offer today. After a month of filling out applications, cleaning, working out, running, and laying pool side... I finally can be a normal person again. I enjoyed my time off and will miss it eventually, but right now I'm stoked!

Beautiful City

I decided to venture out this morning and ended up downtown for a Run Along the Water :))

 It was cool getting to see all the mansions along the way.. One side is water, one side is houses..

We don't know how true it is, but they say this is one of Opra Winfrey's houses..

I ran by a VERY special place... Remember this?

In the center of the courtyard they have a water spot! It is pretty neat, and trust me, I had to hold back from running in and having fun like all the kids. Why should they get to have all the fun?



 By this time I had stopped running for a quick walk break.. About 1.8mi in.

Then started back under the shade trees.

Isn't God's beauty AMAZING?!

 I finally decided that this was a time to just enjoy myself and reflect on all of the many blessings He has given me.

These people def had the right idea.

 Like a child, I begged Andrew to bring me down here for a picnic. He said maybe this weekend. Fingers crossed!

 If you come visit me, we WILL be coming here. Because I HAVE to share the beauty!

 Palm trees are by far my favorite thing about living here. They make me smile..

I did several walking laps around this one area.  It's huge. Like maybe a football fields length?

 Horse and carriage is on my To Do list soon!

My cardio total was 4.5 miles.... Only about 2 miles running, but next time I can get serious and do more since I got some of the amazement out of the way.. Maybe.

 The terrain varied from pavement, sidewalk path, cobblestone, gravel, dirt, and tree roots. Yes tree roots. I was that person who stumped something, almost tripped, then turned around and looked back at it like dang you jumped out and grapped my foot. 

During my walk, I started craving something icy and fruity! McDonalds Strawberry Lemonade, please.  You have GOT to try one of these. Especially when your hot and sweaty and your tongue feels like sandpaper.

 After paying a bill, I was pool side reading! Trying to finish my last Hunger Games book on my kindle.

Hubby got off work late again, so I was able to have dinner going and smelling good when he walked in.  Taco Casserole and Mexican Rice.  Sooo good, and so easy.

and dessert? Oh just the top of our Wedding Cake!!

 We heard that waiting until your first anniversary to eat it, you waist it because it doesn't taste good.  Andrew has been bugging me for almost three weeks now to eat it.  We finally pulled it out last night to thaw.. and we were looking forward to this goodness allllllll day.

Yes, that is CHEESECAKE in the middle! It was SO much better than the teeny piece we fed each other. Our second layer was the same, and was the one we cut from. The bottom layer had strawberry preserve in the center! I hate that I didn't get to try that one!

Andrew's cake was a Reese's cake... chocolate cake with peanut butter icing and reeses to decorate. We tore into it on the honeymoon. Yes I stowed it in my carry on. It was chocolate and peanut butter cake people.

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Although I had a semi icebath in the pool earlier, my legs are sore from all the walking! Gotta keep up with my parents mileage though. They are up to 5 miles per walk now.

Randomness is ova.