Weekend Goals

Last night we me Ms. Frances at Hendershots for the final night at their current location before moving. Yay for being spontaneous and going out on a weeknight!

This weekend we will be staying in town. I am so excited. It is only the second weekend we’ve had in town in 8 weeks.  I have already mentally filled all of our time with chores, errands, and summer activities but all I really want is to relax. Whyyyyy do I always try to cram so much in….I am telling myself that as long as I go berry picking, buy tomatoes, and go to the swimming hole nothing else really matters.

Then 2 days of work next week, and looooooong Third of July weekend. Yahoo!

I am super proud of my runs this week. I am training for a Fall half marathon and following a mix of 2 training plans. One plan recommended being able to run 3 miles comfortably 3 times a week prior to starting the plan. So I set that goal for myself. I am happy to say that so far this week I have run 3 miles twice at a slow but comfortable pace-especially considering I am running in heat and humidity. I am too stubborn (read: lazy) to get out of bed and run before work so I have been running at 5:00pm, not the coolest part of the day. It is worth mentioning that I am actually looking forward to my runs (I KNOW! I am as shocked as you are). This morning I mixed up my training time and went to the gym 2 hours before I was supposed to meet with Jody so he was with another client (duh) luckily, Michael was able to train me.

 Shocking fact #1 before I knew Michael was going to be able to train me I had the thought “no big deal, I will just jump on the treadmill, Yay!”

 Shocking fact #2 I enjoyed training with Michael and was not cranky or wanting to kill him. Ahhh love.

I plan to get my third run in this weekend. So I guess my weekend goals are:

Buy fresh juicy yummy summer tomatoes

Berry picking/See Carrie and Patrick

Waterfall/See Frances and Zach

Run

Relax and love on Michael

See how I refrained from writing clean house, return things, go to wal mart, grocery shop, food prep blah blah blah. I am prioritizing my summer fun and relaxation. And using that as an excuse to slack in areas of my life that clearly aren’t as fun or rewarding :)

Cheers to the weekend!

Counting Down

I don't like to make a big deal about my birthday (although my husband did make it really fun and special this year).
Thanksgiving makes me feel guilty (choosing between families, someone is inevitably left out).
I'm kind of a Scrooge about Christmas (but getting better after marrying an elf).
New Years Eve always seems like a lot of work for a hangover.
I think that all of this ill-will towards holidays stems from being a child of divorce. I'm not here to win sympathy or to point fingers or blame my parents. I know that they did the best that they could and I love them both dearly but when holidays are spent in rotating shifts the magic gets lost and for me the guilt and stress took over.
However,there is one day of the year that I love. Truly, madly, deeply. The Third of July. I mean, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't already really super pumped up about it. In fact, last night I made Michael model a patriotic headband I bought at the dollar spot at Target (6 weeks ago, yes, I am a nut for anything red, white and blue).



Two years ago Michael were on a road trip on the 2nd and 3rd of July, when boredom took over I offered to entertain him by singing all of the patriotic songs I knew; America The Beautiful, God Bless America, This Land Is Your Land, and on, and on. I have to admit, my talent was pretty amazing. I remember impressing even myself with how many songs I was able to come up with in their entirety and how long I was able to entertain us. We then decided to stop at Rarity Mountain at a scenic overlook in Tennessee to take some pictures and because it was the Third of July I was wearing my most favorite patriotic shorts in all their glory. You're Welcome, Tennessee.

Last year, being an Olympic year and all, I could hardly contain my American Pride. I went shopping and bought allll of the red, white and blue things. And then I challenged myself to see if I could go from the Third of July until the Olympic opening ceremonies, July 27, wearing red white and blue in some form every day. Let's just say it wasn't very challenging.

For my birthday in February I begged (and begged and begged) Michael to buy me this Uncle Sam outfit.

After tricking me into thinking he wouldn't buy it for me all week by saying ridiculous things like "you know Uncle Sam is a guy" and "when would you ever wear that?!" He gave it to me. Best. Birthday. Ever.

So yeah, I will be wearing that to fireworks on the Third. My family is so lucky they get to sit with and Uncle Sam impersonator.

SPF Infinity

I have been married for 235 days. I have found that when you are engaged and newly married people like to offer a lot of words of wisdom about marriage. You know, “never go to bed angry” and “marriage is work” or “marriage is a choice you have to make every day.” And then there are those couples who are deliriously happy because they married their perfect match, or because they “work on their happiness every day.”
My words of wisdom can be summed up using the tag line from an old MTV show, “you think you know, but you have no idea.” I thought I knew. I thought I knew my husband good, bad, and ugly. I thought I knew myself. I thought that since we were already living together our life wouldn’t change much. I thought I knew what marriage would be like, but I had no idea. And 235 days in to it I still feel like I have no idea.
It turns out that marriage, for me, has been kind of like a sunburn (bear with me). I love the sun, I want to be in it all day. I know that I need to wear sunscreen but sometimes I am brazen and feel like I don’t need to be careful or protect myself from the sun. Sometimes I get so used to having my husband around, and expecting forgiveness at every turn I am brazen with him also. I say things I don’t mean, or do things without talking to him first. Because he loves me, so we can figure it out, right?
And then after too much time in the sun, it starts to wear you out. Marriage wears you with the best intentions. The love between you and your spouse is a blessing and a curse. It reveals all of the freckles you try to hide, the parts of you that aren’t so pretty. You can’t hide from your marriage. It will find you, it makes you deal with the things you have tried to hide, things that are painful, or feel too big to be fixed. Once the ugliness is out there, it is easy to feel defensive, feel like your head and your heart are too messed up to work on, like it is the other person’s fault for picking and peeling the sunburn until it is raw and painful. Marriage reveals it. And then there is no going back. You have to own it, figure out what IT is and then figure out how to not let it destroy you and your relationship. Instead, how to create a life and love that is richer for the flaws.
Even though what love has revealed isn’t pretty, it is amazing to be loved in a way that touches you on every level. It is real, and genuine, it touches your core and changes you. I get so frustrated when I feel like everyone’s marriage is happy and sunshine-y and we are the only ones still figuring it out. I am convinced that this is part of an act, and even though you’re smiling in all of the photos you post of you and your spouse, on the other side of the camera you are tearing each other down and creating yourselves again. I am convinced that every relationship is like this. We smile for the camera to show the world that we are still here, still working on it, still putting aloe on our partner’s sunburn.

First days of Summer

Over the weekend we took a trip to one of our favorite weekend getaway spots-camping at Lake Allatoona! You may remember that I got poison ivy there last year....
This weekend, we had friends tag along with us! Jody, Zoe, Allison and John made the trip to the boat. We had a blast on Saturday-swimming, tubing, playing with the dogs, floating and hitting the whiffle ball. It was also the summer solstice and a super moon! Summer is my jam, and you better believe I was pumped!! Everything was so wonderfully summer. Although packing up all of the food and gear and taking care of the boat after a weekend on it is a all a lot of work it makes me so happy. There is nothing better than sleeping under the stars on a summer night, hearing the bullfrogs and crickets, and waking up to a freckled nose from time in the sun. I enjoyed a glorious two and a half hour nap on Sunday and needed a LOT of coffee this morning to face the reality of Monday.
Another bonus to the weekend is that Allison and John introduced me to my new favorite band. Band? DJ might be a better word...damn I'm old... Anywho, its called The White Panda. It's all mashups and very similar to GirlTalk whom I LOVE. Mashups are the best running music-great beats and it switches so often you dont get bored.
I hammered out an awesome 3 mile run today after work to the sweet melodies of White Panda. Then I came home and whipped up a batch of chicken (and chicken less) enchiladas.
Even though I woke up dragging and mourning the loss of the weekend I still managed to show Monday what was up.
Bring it, Tuesday.

Owning it

We all have our quirks, and I've been noticing some of mine with more regularity and distinction lately.

I am obsessed with the pets. This is nothing new. I have been head over heels in love with Bode since the day I could't take him home. (A story for another post.) He is my in my soul, my calm place and my comfort. Stella is our Pretty Girl. She wasn't with us one day last week and it made the whole household feel off. She makes me smile and I love coming home to see her prancing around showing off her favorite frisbee in her mouth. Prim is our comic relief. She can barely jump up onto the bed, is missing half of her teeth, and falls asleep sitting up. She licks my tears away and lets me hold her like a baby. The pets make our house a home. Last night Michael agreed to let the cats sleep in our room (a treat that is usually reserved for Friday and Saturday nights) and I got so excited I made up a dance! I want nothing more than the 5 of us to be together. Always. To infinity and beyond.

I am obsessed with straws. I have one for my Nalgene bottle, my travel coffee cup, my smoothie cup, a special pink straw with yellow polka dots that I only use at my desk at work, a back up pack of straws in my desk drawer (heaven forbid I should go without) and a pack at home. I entered a blog giveaway last week to try to win a glass straw (Oooooh special!) to add to the obsession collection.

I am obsessed with my Nalgene bottle. My husband calls it my security blanket because I drag it ev.ery.where. with me. It is a hideous shade of neon yellow/green and all of the paint has rubbed off of it. It has acquired many accoutrements: the aforementioned straw, a blue splash guard, a carabiner with accompanying strap and clip, and a light blue scrap of felt tied onto the lid. I have had this water bottle for three years. I got it at a sleep over camp I worked at in Alabama where I met Michael. I have no plans to part with it anytime soon.

I am obsessed with cups-I have already mentioned several of them. A special(hideous)floral print travel coffee cup, special smoothie cup (with straw), Nalgene bottle, and a mason jar cup from Terrapin.

I love NPR. I listen to it every time I am in the car and look forward to catching my two favorite programs on Saturday morning; Wait Wait Don't Tell Me and Ask Me Another. I wanted to make a donation during their annual campaign not to fund the shows I listen to and love, but to get a tote bag that said I <3 NPR.

I love white noise. We have an app that we both have to sleep with every night and I turn the fan/space heater on under my desk at work for temprature regulation and also the white noise.

Im sure that there are others but these are the ones that come to mind first!