Life in May

So life got a little crazy...which lead to a lack of blogging on my part. May was a pretty good month for us, nothing too crazy, but it was still incredibly busy!

The first week of May, I had Foam Fest. It was very interesting...and it should have been called MUD Fest! Apparently rain and cold weather love to show up on race days for me. 

Even though it was rainy and freezing, we still had fun! By the time the race started, the foam was taller than I am. I had a few friends that did the race as well...I am so glad they did it with me!

We climbed over walls that were 6', 8', 10', and 12' tall. They were pretty difficult and Annie busted her arm on one of them.

                 Going through a mud pit on the way to the lake before we climbed over huge floating tires.

Our final stunt...5 people got taken away in ambulances! All in all it was a fun day, and I proved to myself I can do a few things I probably wouldn't have tried before. I have plans to do a few more races before the year is over.

Chris's mom, Kim, came to visit us the second week in May. We headed out to Cheekwood, which is a botanical garden about 20 minutes from our apartment. There were some really cool tree houses which we had fun walking through.

The gardens and walkways all had pretty flowers growing.

We took the scenic hike through the woods and enjoyed seeing some funny statues on the trail.

Kim has a thing for redbirds, and we saw this one. Chris took a bunch of pictures and it was cute to watch him try and get a good picture for his mom.

There was a nice mansion on the property with a gorgeous arbor which overlooked most of the property and rolling hills.

It is always good to spend time with family and this was no exception! We ate a yummy dinner at California Pizza Kitchen with Kim and she left the next morning. 

The rest of the month was flew by. To make some extra money to go towards our house, I've been cleaning and organizing for my grandparents. It is great because it helps us save extra money and it is good for my grandparents because they can't do as much as they used to. Win Win! Chris and I worked for them together one weekend and it was good to practice working in the yard for our future house :)

The third week of May, we received some news that my Mamaw wasn't doing very well and was in the hospital. We made the decision to make an impromptu trip to California the first week of June. We hadn't planned on taking any trips this year, but sometimes life happens and plans go out the window. That is a lesson I am definitely learning. We are very blessed that we were both able to take a week off work with such short notice and we found very reasonable airfare. God is so amazing and I am so thankful for all the he provided for this trip to make it possible.

Rock and Roll To the Finish Line

 Race day included rain, cold, wind, and pain. Mom and Chris were my AWESOME cheer team and we all got up and left the house before 5am to get me downtown in plenty of time. We parked at LP Field and I was able to take a bus over to Centennial Park. Poor mom and Chris had to walk in the rain. I met up with Nicholas and Sydney at the start line.

It never stopped raining the entire race. I was soaked and my hips got tight much earlier in my run than normal, which lead to a very slow run where I had to walk more than I had originally planned. By the time I got to mile 7, I was walking more than I was running. I was able to see Chris and my mom at mile 10. I may or may not have told them I wanted to quit. They cheered me on and let me know they would wait for me at the finish line.

Even though it took me what seemed like forever, I DID FINISH the half marathon. That's 13.1 miles in case you didn't realize how AMAZING I am :) I definitely don't have any plans on doing another half anytime in the near future, it wasn't quite as bad as I had imagined (except for the weather...that was awful).

I am so thankful that I was able to do this. I saw a guy who was running on two prosthetics and one guy who was using arm crutches because his legs didn't really work. It was inspiring to see them and made me feel so lucky that I am healthy! I am so blessed!

 



 

In other news, Foam Fest 5k is coming up soon! I hope it's better than the half!

Pickles, Olives, and Slawsa...Oh My!

Last week, I had the opportunity to work at Second Harvest Food Bank with the bank. One of the other girls from my branch, Peggy, and I got to go together! It was so much fun! We started out sorting in the grocery recovery room, but decided we didn't like the fact we were having to decide whether or not the food was usable or not. I felt bad throwing food away!!!!

We then headed over to the packing, where we had to fill boxes with 20 pounds of "assorted food." The list included things like ketchup, pickles, Alfredo sauce, and other random food items. However, most of what we had were olives and pickles...yuck! There was even something called Slawsa which is apparently the only condiment you'll ever need. Together we packed 87 boxes. As a group, we sorted and packed over 13,000 pounds of food, which equates to about 17,000 meals for hungry people! It was so much fun and rewarding to do this and I'm so glad I was able to participate!

 

After I got done at Second Harvest, I headed over to the Health and Fitness Expo to pick up my bib and goody bag for the Music City Half Marathon. I am feeling less than thrilled about the weather forecast for Saturday, but I am somewhat excited about the race.

 

After the Expo, I met Chris at Outback Steakhouse for a yummy dinner. We then headed over to Flying Saucer, one of Chris's favorite places. Darts and a few drinks filled up the rest of our evening before we headed home to watch my favorite TV show, Grey's Anatomy! What a great date night with my hottie hubby!

 

On Friday, Mom and I hung out after work. She went and carb loaded with me at Olive Garden. I love that restaurant, but unfortunately Chris isn't a big Italian fan so I try to go with mom when I get the chance. Music City Half...here I come!

 

Good Food, Good Friends, Good Times

This past weekend Chris and I went camping with our friends Alex and Amanda. We had such an amazing time! We just relaxed around the campfire, played cards, and ate like kings! I was in charge of cooking, so we had Greek chicken skewers, bacon and eggs, burgers, grilled chicken, pineapple, and corn, pancakes, and hot dogs! I was very surprised that all the food came out, but it did!

The best part was not only getting to spend time with our friends, but that the campsite was on a lake and our sites looked right out on it. I love spending time in God's beauty!

Bonnie and the Chocolate Factory

For my mom's birthday, Chris and I found a chocolate factory tour for her. I was able to go with her and it was so much fun! We got to eat some fruit and pretzels in their yummy chocolate fountain.

 We learned all about how chocolate is made, and then tasted different chocolates that were interesting to say the least. We started with chocolate that was 80% cacao and went down to normal milk chocolate, which is definitely our favorite!

We dipped oreos, marshmallows, and a cookie in chocolate.

And decorated our own chocolate bars.

 It was seriously so much fun and great to be able to spend time with mom! 

Chris and I have had another normal week, and I am so happy for normal sometimes. Work has been great and we are gearing up for a few busy weeks. The weather has been beautiful so we are trying to spend as much time outside as possible. 

We are also eating some lighter, summer meals. One of our new favorites is Grilled Salmon with a Cucumber Dill Salad. Yummy!

We are heading to Chattanooga next weekend to camp with some friends! I am so excited to spend a whole weekend away and can't think of a better way to spend it than enjoying God's creation!

Puts It in Perspective

Chris and I had a pretty crazy weekend! On Saturday, I planned on surprising Chris by taking him to Mayday Brewery in Murfreesboro. He's been wanting to go there for awhile and I thought it would be a fun thing for us to do. While on the way there, a guy (who kinda looked like Yoshi) rear ended us. We were in stop and go traffic, we were stopped, and then we were hit. It wasn't super hard, but it was hard enough to do about $1,000 in damage to my car. Everyone was fine and I am so thankful for that. It definitely is a reminder that we are not guaranteed our next breath. I'm just so glad that I know no matter what happens, I know God holds my future and he has it all under control!

 

 Needless to say, we didn't end up making it to our original destination.

 

We decided to go to Craft Brew Nashville instead. My husband beat me in darts, but I have to say, I did hold my own!

 

It was a fun to hang out there for just a little bit and then we headed home to watch Argo. It was nice to get out of the house and to come home and relax as well.

 

The weather has been starting to get beautiful here so we took Zeppelin to a park near our apartment for a hike on Sunday.

 

It was a nice hike in beautiful weather and I love spending time with my family outside! I am so happy spring is finally here. We are going camping with some friends in 10 days and I am so excited!

Christ Is Risen From the Dead

How blessed am I to get to write about an amazing Easter Sunday?! First and foremost, because Jesus nailed my sin to the cross, I get to spend forever in Heaven with Him. I'm pretty sure this will continue to blow my mind as long as I am on earth. But that's okay. Because we need to spend every day being thankful for His sacrifice and longing for Heaven.

 

Chris and I got up early and ate a nice breakfast of French toast...one of my all time favorite breakfasts. We then got ready and drove to my parents house to drop off the dog before church. I am so proud of us because we made it there 15 minutes early. If you know me, you know what an accomplishment this is!

After a fantastic service at Long Hollow, we went home for Easter lunch. I am not normally one who gets excited about food waaaay in advance, but for some reason this year, I was literally dreaming about Easter ham. And it was a dream worthy meal...thanks to my super awesome mom!

After lunch we played a really fun game called Loaded Questions. It was a good way to enjoy spending time together and laugh too! I love spending time with my family and it is even better when it is focused on celebrating the real reason we can smile about our future!

I am always looking for new meals to make. I absolutely love Pinterest and always do my menu planning from there. Since my work schedule switches every other week (one week I get off early M-Th, the next I am late M-Th) I try to pick easier meals for my late week. Chris loves grilled cheese and I saw an awesome idea to add guacamole to it. In the words of my husband, "It was like I had been eating in a black and white world, and now I see color." He may have been exaggerating a little bit, but seriously it is pretty amazing!

 

I'm still training for the Music City Half Marathon in just 3 short weeks. I did a nice long run today and I am not quite sure how I will be able to make it. My goal is to finish! The week after that race, I am going to be running the 5k Foam Fest. I am super stoked! Its like a fun version of the Tough Mudder so it has obstacles, mud, foam, and I'm doing it with friends so I know it will be awesome!

 

We are so blessed and I am so thankful it is finally warming up!