Tis the Season.

-A

New Years Resolution

Typically, people will make New Year's Resolutions at the beginning of a new year. Duh. This year, I'm trying something a little different. I want to lose 10lbs by NYE, therefore I'm setting my New Year's Resolution pre-new year. Shall we call it End of Year Resolution? Anyway, I'm putting it out there, for the whole world (well in this case the very few people who read this blog...crickets), so maybe I'll have some sort of accountability. We'll see.

With that I have to get to bed, because we lose an hour of sleep tonight peeps and I have a half marathon to run in the morning.

-A

Quote of the Week.

-via

 

Though I grew up here in Memphis and had lots of friends, I only had a few close friends, and now, only one of them resides here in Memphis. I have a few other close girls in town that I've befriended since moving back from school, and I always seem to run into old classmates, but I feel I'm lacking in the friends dept. - lol, that sounds so lame. So many of my friends live in different cities and states, and I'm so terrible at keeping in contact with them that I fear I may lose them - oh the drama. But there have been some moments here lately -especially with the upcoming wedding- that I've realized that they'll always be there.

 

Makes ya feel all mushy inside, huh? No? Just me? Ok then.

 

-A

Pumped.

This week I'm setting a simple running goal of running 35 miles by Sunday. While the miles aren't difficult, I'm having a tough time making time for my miles and I feel like it's a big fat excuse. These next couple of months will be very stressful and running is my stress reliever sooo, must work to make time. Plus, I'm training for a marathon in December, so no more slacking off!

Last week I had two awesome runs following a crazy, not normal run. Wednesday, last week, I went running with the pup, and Jason tagged along on the bike. Well, the entire time the dog was pulling me to keep up with Jason on the bike. We were hauling. I'm talking sub-8s. I tried to keep up but we only managed 4 miles. I was afraid for my dog's life.

Amazingly, I ran 8:30s on Thursday's 5 miler and Saturday's 6 miler and it felt so good. I'm pumped for tonight's run with the group. I may even run home after. 

In other news, I'm up to my ears in wedding planning. I'm super pumped about some fun projects that I'm conjuring up.

Oh and I'm pumped for this...

WHOOP!!

-A

Quote of the Week.

-via

That's all.

-A

Weekend Update.

Good news. I accomplished my weekend DYI project! Though I had to follow some unconvential crafting techniques due to the lack of some supplies i.e. tacks, I am happy with the result. I ultimately just wanted to get rid of the 8-year old, nasty, plastic storage containers that were essentially holding my collection of expired drugs and spare buttons.

Don't ask.

So after pumping myself up with some episodes of Hoarders, I told Jason to throw them away. He responded by telling me that he could use the 8-year old, nasty, plastic storage containers to sort some of his Army paper work. Ugh. Really? He then followed up saying he would put the container in the closet out of my sight.

Fine.

Ok. I got off track. In order to get rid of the dust collecting storage containers, I had to re-locate my knot of jewels that was residing on top of them. So wa-lah. Insert DYI project. It's a fabric wrapped canvas with a floating shelf that may or may not be level. Please enjoy the poor quality iPhone photo below.

As for the rest of the weekend? It went well.

Friday, I biked home and Jason prepared a yummy dinner for us of grilled bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin, green beans, cucumber salad, and vino. We ended up going out later and coming home even later and sleeping most of Saturday away. I watched some kids on Saturday night and on Sunday morning, I managed to go to the wrong location for the RRS 5-miler - PS this is the 3rd RRS I've participated in. Sheesh. We went to church, hit up the doggie park and ended the day with my sister and her family for hamburgers.

*side note: I haven't run in almost 10 days. I'm ending that tonight. No worries.

-A

Rut.

I really need a fresh start. A change. I've been consistantly searching for a new place to live ever since Jason came home. A new job would be nice, but it's just not feasible right now. A new city would be a definate overhaul. I feel like I'm in a deep rut. Not a bad rut, per se, but one that just doesn't excite me any more.

Since I can't easily change the above, maybe I need to just change my perception. i.e. I have a bad habit of going home after work/workouts and being terribly unproductive. This unproductivity tends to spill over into the weekend, and then, Monday starts the whole cycle over of feeling unfulfilled over again. I'm not saying that my life is terrible, but I just need to change somethings up!

This weekend I have set a home improvement/ DYI goal. Hopefully, I'll complete it and hopefully, I'll blog about it - because I want to become a better blogger (how many times have I said this??). I have faith that my mission will be accomplished because 1. I was productive last night 2. I've voiced my goal to my roommate/ better half.

Weekend project inspiration.

Source: younghouselove.com via Andy on Pinterest

'til Monday.

-A

Stick Love.

 

Jason had drill last weekend, so Lola and I headed to the dog park both Saturday and Sunday. It's hard to get Lola out for any length of time because of the heat, but since the dog park has three huge lakes* she is able to play for a longer time. Sunday we headed over to the park after church/lunch at noon. We did the normal loop and ended up at the social lake where I found a shaded bench to sit. Our visits usually involve walking, random crazy dog sprinting, chasing other dogs, swimming in the lake after sticks/rocks, and now, apparently, we can add rolling in the mud/dirt. She found this one beloved stick that I would toss and she'd fetch. Then she'd stand in the water and chew on the stick and occasionly sink it and paw at it 'til it floated back to the surface. Well then she decided to do this...

And she instantly went from a white dog to a black dog all in the matter of seconds. Needless to say she got a bath when we got home and then we snuggled. The end.

You can see her tatoo her in these pictures. It's an identification marker that she had been spayed - thank you Memphis Animal Services.

-A

*Some would argue that these lakes are, in fact, large ponds, but I like to call them lakes. Ponds just don't sound as fun as lakes.

Sunshine Song.

I can't get enough of this song. It seems to play on so many aspects of my life right now, spiritually and literally, so I'd thought I'd share...



PS. Sorry I've been MIA for like 2 months...I blame life.

-A

Awesome Engagement.

Seriously this is so great!



-A

Memorial Day Weekend.

Here are a few photos from the weekend. It was one of the best Memorial Day Weekends by far. We went camping/boating with a good friend, hung by the pool, and held a very unorganized Memorial Day lunch with family. *Sidenote: I really think I want to host a Memorial Day BBQ every year, since it's such a special holiday around our house. Anyway, we had a blast and the weather was gorgeous. It was a perfect start to the summer! Hooray!



Campsite



My Lovies.



Jon - Lola's new lover - skiing. PS I almost got up on the skis.



Thank you for your service!



 

Sunburnt and exhausted from the lake.

PS Wedding planning is picking up steam!

-A

Drive-In.

Last night J and I had a date night at the drive-in theater. The Malco Drive-In on Summer is probably one of the best hidden jewels of Memphis. 1. It's cheaper than the regular theater - $7/adult and children under 10 are FREE; 2. You pay for a double feature - that's right folks 2 movies for $7; 3. The theater snacks are cheaper - I think we got 2 hot dogs, a large popcorn, and a large sprite for $14; 4. You can bring your own snacks - yep, if you don't want to pay for snacks you can bring your own, including a a bottle of wine; 4. You have the privacy of sitting in your own vehicle; 5. You can take advantage of gorgeous weather. Also, another perk in this circumstance was that J wanted to see "The Hangover, Part 2", well, at any regular theater tickets would have been sold out fast, but at the drive-in they don't have that problem. Some of the cons of the drive-in are that 1. The movies start late bc the sun doesn't set til 8PM - our movie started at 8:30; 2. The drive-in is popular among some underage crowds who like to bring coolers of beer in and get tanked and rowdy during the movie; 3. Poor drive-in etiquette - I'm not sure there is such, but be sure to turn you headlights off people.

Overall, I love, love, love the drive-in. It's one of my favorite things to do when the weather is nice.

Moving on...

Hangover 2 was good and funny, but I don't think it was better than the original, but what's new there. I just hope it doesn't give the fiance any crazy ideas.

-A

Pup Update.

So, J took my sweet Lola-gator to see Dr. Barnes today for her rash. Apparently, she has a skin allergy that she "probably picked up from the dog park". Seriously, this dog is cursed from having any fun at all. Anyway, we have to be diligent about giving her baths whenever she goes to the park/Arkansas/vet/farm/outside...sheesh, she's so high maintenance. Letmejustsay, we will be going to the dog park this weekend...I've missed our visits and, of course, Lola misses her doggie friends.

*Side Note: I will no longer be doing run reports because I found this handy website DailyMile that pretty much does it for you. Even better, they have this fancy widget - notice in the side bar - so that you can all (at least the 2 of you, lol) follow along. Hooray!

-A

Run Report 5.24.11

CANCELED.
I blame him.

This sweet pup was literally rescued by my running partner Christin. Thanks to her he is not getting put down today. I'll skip a run anyday to rescue cute puppies!

-A

China/Dinnerware.

This past weekend, Jason and I started our first wedding registry. We began with Macy's thinking that we could knock out a lot of things there, but as we walked around we realized that we needed be a little more strategic about what we registered for where - if that makes sense. We registered for some basics, but we may end up going back and editing our list once we figure out where else we are registering. One thing I thought for sure we would knock out would be the fine china, but when I showed J the pattern, his enthusiasm was lacking.

Vera Wang Wedgewood "Gilded Weave"

I love this china. The only reservation that J has is that he doesn't like gold, so we left without registering for it. I'm usually pro joint decisions and making all parties happy, but with this, he'll just have to get over it. Later that day I told him we were going to register for it, which he agreed.

Right now we are hunting for some good basic, modern everyday dinnerware. I was a little disappointed in Macy's and William Sonoma/Pottery Barn, so I've been scouring the internet to see if I can find anything I like. I've found these two at Crate & Barrel. The only problem is that the closest Crate & Barrel is in Atlanta which is, ohhhh, a good 6 hours away, but I think I may order a plate from each set so that we can actually see and feel it before we register for it. 

Crate & Barrel "Madison Dinnerware"



 

Crate & Barrel "Essential Dinnerware"

Jason says he likes square plates, but I'm super picky about square plates and I have a weird aversion to square bowls. We saw a good set of square plates at William Sonoma, but the bowls were badddd. I'm hoping I can win him over with one of the above selections...

Wish me luck!

-A

Run Report 5.23.11

Source: sundayinbed.tumblr.com via Theresa on Pinterest

WHEN: Monday, May 23rd, 6:00PM

WHERE: Fleet Feet Fun Run. Fleet Feet > Galloway Loop> Fleet Feet

WHO: Group Run

CONDITIONS: 75F, Rainy

DISTANCE: 5.5mi

OVERALL: Threatening Storms - which we managed to miss - light rain, fast run

*I like running in the rain. Even more, I like running in the rain on the trails. Am I weird? There is something fun and adventurous about it that really excites me. Do you like running in the rain?

-A

Bike to Work Day

Friday, May 20th was bike to work day. I think I heard there were 200+ participants, which for Memphis is a success. Out of our office, 5 of 14 people biked into work, me being the furthest traveler. From my experience, I would do it again. My boss even went as far as to propose every Friday bike to work day. Let me just say I'm not a pro bike rider, but I definately enjoyed the built in work out with my commute and the gas-cost savings.

I left at 6:15AM and rode to my sister's house, getting there at 6:30AM. There was some melt down drama with my neice that delayed our departure from her house, so we ended up leaving about 6:45AM riding towards the Greenline and picking up the boss-man along the way. From there we rode down the Greenline to Tillman. From Tillman, we were supposed to take a right onto Poplar and jog over to Fenwick. Well, there was some miscommunication, or misdirection which ever you want to call it, and we took a left onto Poplar and ultimately found ourselves lost in Chickasaw Gardens - seriously, you can't get out of the place easily. Thank goodness for the iPhone, my sister was able to navigate us back onto the right track with a 10-15 minute delay. Then we ran into a little train problem.

We approached a railroad crossing just as a trrain was coming. No big deal. Five or so minutes go by and the train passes. We get ready to ride again, when all of the sudden we hear another train blowing it's horn. There were litterally two trains back to back. We probably spent a good 10-15minutes at that train crossing. We finally made it to the next "pick-up point" and met up with another co-worker in Midtown. Our final co-worker "pick-up point" was at the energizer station at the Church Health Center - super cool building btw.

Riding into the energizer station at Church Health Center -via

Picking up our goodies. -via

 We got some free goodies including a messanger bag, coupons, bike repair kit, water, fruit, and other munchies. Then we made a pretty easy ride into downtown. We arrived at the office at approx. 8:15AM.

Office Participants.

The ride home was tough; there seemed to be a lot of up-hill climbs and we were kind of in hurry. The boss-man had a dinner to be at and we were trying to beat a rainstorm. Needless to say I was beat and in bed by 9:30PM on a Friday night. Lame.

-A

Run Report 5.21.11

WHEN: Saturday, May 21st, 7:00PM

WHERE: E. Memphis/High Point. Fleet Feet > Galloway Loop> High Pointe Terrace> Cardinal> Minden> Perkins> Fleet Feet

WHO: Myself & Olivia

CONDITIONS: 75F

DISTANCE: 6ish mi

OVERALL: On/Off rain, humid, tired legs, not the best run 

*on a side note: I'm kid-sitting, which means free cable, I'm flipping between Real Housewives of Jersey and TLC's Extreme Couponing - quality TV.

-A

Perfect.     

Happy Weekend! This is a big weekend for me. My lifelong roommate is finally moving in! So, there will be lots of cleaning/organizing/ purging and lots of day dreaming of quitting my job and buying an airstream and driving it to the beach/mountains/canyons/lake and parking it and chilling/hiking/biking/swimming and listening to some good music. Sigh. Where one door closes, another opens. Farewell single-dom. Ok, a little dramatic.

-A

Run Report 5.19.11

Wolf River Pedestrian Bridge -via

WHEN: Thursday, May 19th, 6:15ishPM

WHERE: Shelby Farms. Shelby Farms Welcome Center > Wolf River Ped. Bridge> Greenway (along Wolf River - two loops)

WHO: Myself, Christin, Lola

CONDITIONS: 75F

DISTANCE: 5.5mi

OVERALL: BEAUTIFUL weather, saw deer grazing, ran faster than normal pace with a quick kick at the end.

I need to invest in a portable doggie water bowl, instead of venturing through mosquito infested grass to the stale water...

This one looks handy.

-A

Bikes & Fries.

This week Downtown Memphis is participating in Bike to Work Day on May 20th. I, along with my co-workers will be making the trek into work tomorrow via bicyle. I've been lookng forward to this for the past couple of weeks - especially when gas prices were nearing $4 - because if I can save some bucks by biking to work once a week then it's well worth a shot. I'll let you know how it goes.

On a side note, last night I had dinner at Chick-fil-a with Christin and she tried their new sweet potato fries and let me sample some as well. Now let me preface this with saying, I've never in my life tried sweet potato fries. I'm not a huge fan of sweet potatos to begin with but I have always wanted to experiment with making some sweet potato fries - I mean what doesn't taste better fried? Chick-fil-a sweet potato fries = yummieness. In general, Chick-fil-a = yummieness.

Hm...maybe tomorrow morning we could bike by the Chick-fil-a in Midtown and pick up a chicken biscuit...

Ok, now I'm hungry.

-A

Run Report - 5.18.11

It's been a full week since I last ran. Yuck.

WHEN: Wednesday, May 18th, 6:00PM
WHERE: Germantown. G'town Chick-fil-a > G'town Greenway (along Wolf River)
WHO: Myself, Christin, Lola
CONDITIONS: 75F
DISTANCE: Little over 5mi
OVERALL: Long awaited run, gorgeous weather, new route, Chick-fil-a = yummy post-run grub.

What's Been Goin' On.

Last weekend Jason and I had a whirlwind trip to Miami and the Keys. This is the image I'm trying to burn in my brain until the next beach vacation (honeymoon?). 

Whose ready for next year? Believe Memphis.

Source: blackwaterdog.wordpress.com via Andy on Pinterest

 Monday, the Prez was in town to speak at Booker T. Washington's graduation. No matter where you stand politically, having the President of the United States of America come and reward you for your hard work and dedication and inspire you and your peers is unforgettable. Be proud Memphis.

My Lola-gator has a rash. In doing some web-research, I've come to a conclusion that it's a grass allergy - HELLO Spring. I'm giving her Benadryl, and if it's not better by Monday, we'll head back to the vet.*

P.S. She's the best cuddler ever. Be jealous.

-A

*This is why I have pet insurance peeps. My dog is injury/accident/allergy prone.

Don't Think.

Source: weheartit.com via Ashley on Pinterest

-A

Run Report - 5.11.11

I know this is so late, but to my credit, I was up late packing and was out of town since Thursday of last week.

WHEN: Wednesday, May 11th, 6:30PM
WHERE: Germantown/Collierville. Christin's House > G'town Greenway (near HHS) > Christin's neighborhood
WHO: Myself & Christen
CONDITIONS: 90F*
DISTANCE: 4mi*
OVERALL: Short run, relief to a stressful day, different scenery.

-A

Run Report - 5.10.11

I'm trying something new that will kill two birds with one stone. I'm going to start posting reports on my runs. This way I will keep up with my running and hopefully be a more consistant blogger. So without further adieu, my inagural run report...

WHEN: Tuesday, May 10th, 5:30PM
WHERE: Downtown Memphis. Main St. > top of Auction St. Bridge > Front St. > Front St. Trolley Line > South Bluffs > G. E. Patterson > S. Main St. > Beale St. > 3rd St. > Union Ave. > Parking Garage
WHO: Myself & Christen
CONDITIONS: 90F*, breezy, MS River 100 year flood, crowded, serveral breaks including: crossing streets, pedestrian traffic, stretching, gawking at flooded river
DISTANCE: 5mi*
OVERALL: Great run, forgot my hair tie (note: rubber bands serve as a great substitute), wore the running skirt ( I need to do laundry), no chafing (hallelujah), filled water bottle at that bar that's next to Bluefin (don't remember the name - the bartender was like "you want water?" He seemed confused...), first real sweaty run of summer, successfully got Christen to climb Auction St. Bridge all the way to the top, tried out my new running tank from the GAP and I believe it successfully passed the test - I'll have one in each color please.

*approximately (see I don't know the exact temp. at that time but I know the high for the day was 90F and I also don't run with a Garmin or Javier, a.k.a. Christen's phone's GPS man, so I go off of what my running partners tell me or what I map out, it's all approximate)

Til the next run
-A

Royal Wedding.

We are one month away from William and Kate's BIG DAY!

The big question? What will she where?

Here are a few designers' sketches of their thoughts.

Monique Lhuillier

Jason Wu

Rachel Roy

Tommy Hilfiger

Lela Rose

Nina Ricci

-via

I have a stash of wedding dress sketches from designers as well....onlyyyy joking.

I would be torn if I were in Kate's position. I would want to be trendy, but HELLO!!?!? you are the only person in the world that can pull off a 25ft train without being over-the-top. "Don't mind me, and my humongo train". Seriously, how does that thing fit into a car/carriage? I'll do some research.

-A

Laundry

If only laundry was this glamorous, maybe I'd do it more often.

-A

Temptation.

After three successful passes, I have yet to indulge in a donut this morning. But they are calling me by name....I just need to hold out one more hour...

-A

Social Networking Map.

-via

This made me chuckle. If you click on the link, it shows the original social networking map from 2007. How quickly things change.

-A

Worth It.

-via

Nothing like a little tough love.

-A

Belated Flowers.

Everyone expects flowers on Valentine's Day, but they sure are a suprise two days later...

Happy Day!

-A

p.s. I hope everyone is getting out in this gorgeous weather!!