Blog Party!

I'm never one to pass down a time to par-tay and so I couldn't resist linking up with Danielle, Casey and Alycia. I had no idea what a blast this little party would be.
First off, we were randomly paired with other bloggers to exchange $10-$15 gifts for one another. I was lucky enough to be paired with the beautiful Joii. Her blog is full of awesome things about Faith, Fashion, Food....honestly what can be better? How she describes herself: It is my goal to live each day to the fullest. While you're here, enjoy and be inspired. I love me some Jesus! I am a wife, daughter, sister and friend. I love beauty, travel and food.

So go read a little bit more about her! You won't be disappointed!

Have you ever had a time when you were super excited to give a gift to someone special, but first you receive their gift to you and it's so super awesome that your gift to them pales in comparison?

I did that with Miss Joii.

She sent Isabelle and me the BEST handmade things EVER! I have stated a few times my ridiculous obsession love for jewelry so Joii MADE me 3 beautiful pairs of earrings. I love earrings, but I really love handmade earrings. I feel like they are made with love and I also love that they don't look like everything else walking down the street.

She made Isabelle the most adorable tag blanket that has Minnie Mouse on it. Izzy was so excited to see Minnie and she keeps busy playing with the tags so I can enjoy a quiet car ride (cue Hallelujah music!).

 Izzy's blanket travels with her.

Took it away long enough to snag a little pic.

It's two different colors and textures! So perfect!

And my personal favorite...the earrings. The last one doesn't have a holder because I literally had to take them out of my ears to snag a pic. I have already worn all of them and they go with EVERYTHING!

Thank you so much Joii! It was such a blast partying with you! 

Let's get a little personal.

Ashley asked me a few random/fun questions, which I love answering because I think it's the little things that make up our big personalities. Plus, who doesn't love talking about themselves?

11 Fun Facts about myself:

1. I have Spidey like senses. I can hear just about everything (great for eaves dropping..one of my fav activities) and I give a blood hound a run for his money on smelling things (which is a nightmare when you are preggo).

2. I've always hated cartoons. The little voices give me a headache.  

3. I hate walking around with bare feet. We have wood floors and it just feels cold and uncomfortable. I also have to put lotion on my feet before getting into bed and can't stand dry feet. I don't have a weird foot fetish, but suddenly I am realizing that I sound like I do.

4.  I have a minor in Spanish and I can't speak ANY Spanish. You know when they say "Use it or lose it?"....they aren't lying. Thankfully, Dora is giving me a free refresher course.

5. I hate odd numbers. I only run even numbers (4 miles, 6 miles, 8 miles...you get the point), but my new marathon plan has been making me run 7 miles lately and it's driving me nuts! Let me either stop at 6 or run to 8!

6. I love reading and I the thought of buying a Kindle or any other E-reader makes me sad. I love to put the books up like trophies when I'm done reading them! How else are people supposed to know that I'm a smarty pants? I mean HELLO! Harry Potter looks like an Encyclopedia on my shelf!

7. I have a heart tattoo on my lower hip which means nothing to me. I got it on my 18th birthday with all my high school best friends to signify that we were "besties". I now talk to them about once every 2 years.

8. I walk really slowly. I am 5'10" so people assume that I have long legs and walk fast. Incorrect. I have short legs and a freakishly long torso which makes me tall. I hate walking fast because it makes me feel like I am in a hurry and I hate being in a hurry because it stresses me out.

9. I want to own horses one day. I don't really LOVE to ride horses, but I think they're so cute and I just want to pet them and kiss their noses.

10. The zoo depresses me. I love animals, but I hate the zoo.

11. I hate mayo. It grosses me out so much that I even hate watching other people eat it. So, if you are thinking of ordering it when we're hanging out please keep it on the DL.

Now on to questions from Ashley:
1. Your worst fear - Having someone in my immediate family die. I have never really experienced an unexpected death and the thought of that terrifies me. Sorry I got all deep up in here...but you asked!

2. Do you have any awkward talents - I throw like a girl, but I can throw a pretty good football.

3. Favorite Accessory - Jewelry of any kind. If I had to choose, it would be rings.

4. Dogs or Cats - Dogs. I am allergic to cats and they kind of scare me.

5. Do you drive like a race car driver or a Grandpa -Race car driver, but I have never been in an accident! I am really competitive so when I am driving I feel like I am racing the other cars. I know. It's bad

6. Dream job - Medical Aesthetician. I am obsessed with skin care and I don't think people take their skin serious enough!

7. What do you order at Chipotle - Chicken burrito. As spicy as I can make it.

8. Favorite Ice Cream -The cold kind. I love them all. I choose vanilla most of the time though because I like to add lots of toppings.

9. Favorite trashy TV Show - Jersey Shore, all the Real Housewives, Keeping up with the Kardashians, Teen Mom.  Oh, I don't watch too many trashy shows.

10. Vanilla or Chocolate - I don't love chocolate. So I guess Vanilla?

11. All time favorite Movie- I used to be obsessed with Hairspray (the Rickey Lake version). I used to watch it several times DAILY when I was little. Which is actually really inappropriate for kids to watch. Way to go Mom and Dad! I guess that's the perks of being the third kid.

Running Recap

Another marathon training week down! This week was the toughest I have had, mainly because I was tired for most of it because of our little episode that happened this weekend. Missing sleep, KILLS me. I do have my first 20 miler tomorrow, so of course that will be interesting. Since, I have been running for so long, I very rarely get the "runners high". I have to either run really fast to get it or run really long. This weekend should qualify as really long. Last week, I listened to Katie and rewarded myself with a trip to the flea market when it was all said and done. Perfect trip. 

 Izzy and her Aunt Jess. I cheat...this picture is actually from a few weeks ago at the flea market, but you can see that my daughter also has a love for antique bargains.

Flea market shopping is totally good for soreness.

Thankfully one thing this week that hasn't tried to kill me is the awesome weather we have been having. 60 degrees and sunny? Don't mind if I do! We have gone to the park to play just about every day to try and soak up this awesomeness. It's not normal for us not to be freezing our arse's off this time of year.

This little lady right here is wearing me out! Honestly, where do toddlers get their energy? Mr. T has been working a lot lately which means I have had Izzy ALL day and it's exhausting. I have said it once and I'll say it again, single moms have the hardest job on the planet and I think some of our taxes should go towards buying them a little island in Hawaii so they can get a little break! I am exhausted from it and I only have ONE...I'm such a wimp.

Have a Fun Friday!

{Embrace the Camera} January 26th

It's time for a little Embrace the Camera with Emily. This week my picture is nice and grainy due to the front camera on the iPhone but little miss just LOVES the front camera because she can see herself and all her funny faces on the screen.

We Match!

Have you participated yet? Please do. I promise your babies won't care that you were wearing the same t-shirt for two days, or that you didn't put on any makeup. And if they do care, hopefully they'll tell you that they don't.

White lies work for me!

{Wordless Wednesday}

 

Somebody give this girl an Oscar.

{Things that go "bump" in the night}

We had quite the weekend around here. It started out as a standard, relaxing weekend. Friday night we stayed in, put Isabelle to bed early and watched the 6th Harry Potter movie (AMAZING! I don't know what movies we are going to watch when we are actually done with the series) and called it an early night. Now, I understand I am totally cool by going to bed at 10:15 on a Friday night but I had a LONG day ahead of me on Saturday...even longer than I originally planned.

Saturday morning I woke up to read on the Weather Guide that it was currently 21 degrees outside and the chill factor was 11. Awesome. Perfect day for an 18 miler (sense the sarcasm please). I started running from my house and hooked on to our running trails where I met Mr. T for the last 5 miles. (Isabelle was safe and warm at my parents house) The run turned out to go by pretty quickly and I didn't freeze...only my pony tail froze. Not joking.

We joined my parents and Izzy for breakfast at their house and then we headed to the Flea Market where we found lots of good finds! My favorite was a slouchy beanie that was handmade by my new hippy friend. I love hippie's and I love handmade. Win, win!

After walking around for a few hours, we headed home to let Isabelle take her nap while I cooked my freezer friend meals. This idea is AMAZING, unless you decide to do it all in one day after 18 miles and over stimulation from the flea market. Not long after that, the exhaustion hit me. I was so tired and was fighting to keep my eyes open at around 7:00! I fought the urge to be a GIANT lame-o and settled for just being a normal lame-o and I hit the sack around 10:00 while dreaming of sleeping in until 8 the next morning. I was wrong.

At around 2:30 we hear our back porch door jiggle around (our bedroom windows face the back porch) and then we hear our dogs go crazy. Our dogs are large, so they have a pretty threatening bark. We sit out of bed and listen a bit more. Maybe it was the wind, or maybe it was just our imaginations. Wrong. Immediately after that the door really starts moving and we hear a man's voice. We FLY out of bed, I call 911 and grab Isabelle out of her crib, while Mr. T gets some protection. I am on the phone with the operator, so all I can hear now is someone pounding on the back door and yelling while Mr T yells back at them to tell them to leave and that the cops are on the way. I then hear pounding on the FRONT door right where Isabelle and I are standing. The man is yelling cuss words, but I can't understand much else. At this point I am for sure that it is someone (or people) that is on drugs and out of their minds, but after multiple threats by Mr T, the man still would not stop. He continued to pound on our windows, kick our doors and scream through the walls while Isabelle and I are tucked away, hiding in our closet. This goes on for 8 minutes until six police cars arrive at our house and rush the man and get him on the ground. They arrest him and then tell us that the man thought WE had his dog. Again, we have no idea what he is talking about. The police tell us this man's name and the fact that he lives 5 doors down from us. They also tell us that he is so drunk or high that he doesn't know what day it is.

In a ten minute span, we went from dead asleep to trapped in our own house and under attack. I prayed harder for my husband and daughter than I ever have in that ten minutes. I also wanted to jump through the phone to the police dispatcher to give her a giant hug when everything was over. She kept me calm, continued to ask me questions and gave me step by step directions on how close the police were.

Have you been in a situation like that? As I have said before, I have a sick love for crime shows. Criminal Minds, Dateline mysteries, etc. so I have always thought about what I would do in certain situations. Having a baby in your arms changes many things, but it helped me to remain calm and think clearly. Mr. T said the same thing. We didn't have enough time to be terrified or cry (until it was over) we just acted on instinct and what we have been told to do and not to do.

It's situations like this one that seem to bring clarity to life and make you stop and realize how quickly everything can change. Thankfully, we are safe and thankfully the man is safe now too.

So maybe next weekend I can catch up on sleep?
Probably not...

Inappropriate or a boxer?

Maybe I will start a new trend in the running world with my awesome attire. Since I ran in college, I have TONS of running clothes. We were sponsored by Adidas, so I have just about everything Adidas makes.
Everyone that knows me, knows I am a runner so that means for my birthday, Christmas, good job days, etc. I get new running gear or a gift card to a running store EVERY time. I say this to admit that I have NO excuse to look like this every morning:

I know what you're thinking and no, I'm not photoshopped. This is me au natural. I am expecting Tyra Banks to be calling me soon.

All my cute running clothes are used as everyday clothes. I feel guilty wearing nice gear just to get it all sweaty and gross. Lululemon is ridiculously comfy and cute and I don't want to waste it on Spike. He thinks dead squirrels are cute, he has no sense in style(New reader? Spike is my dog. Not husband). Plus, all the Datelines I watch lead me to believe that a serial killer could be lurking around every bush. They will leave me alone if I look like a heavy weight boxer. Right?

I did just recently purchase something that is sooo amazing.

Have you heard of compression socks? They are amazing. As you can tell from the picture of what I normally wear, I don't get into "gear". I think most of it is a placebo effect and I don't want to get on that train.

Well, I got on this train and I am NEVER getting off. They're really tight on my calves which makes running up hills so nice. You don't have to be a serious runner to have them because they are also great for recovery.

Don't believe me? Just ask my BFF's Kara Goucher and Shalane Flannigan. They know whats up. Just don't tell them I told you we are besties. We like to keep it a secret.

I am just about done with week three of my Boston marathon training. It has been a good week because every run seems to be getting easier. I had to do a 5 miler at a 6:30 per mile pace which just about killed me, but the rest of the runs went smoothly. Tomorrow I am running 18 and Mr. T is going to run the last 5 with me so it should go by quickly.

As a reward, I will probably give myself some new running gear.

Or just hit up the flea market...yup, definitely the flea market.