Busy Bee...

What a month May has been! I knew it would be crazy busy but I think it even took me off gaurd. What did we do this month?

1. We went to Arkansas for a weekend to see Mike's little brother graduate. We had a beautiful lakehouse in Buena Vista, Arkansas and it was wonderful. We visited him earlier this year and went to a football game. Those hog fans are crazy!

2. The following weekend, Mike was second-shooting his first wedding in Columbia, and I was spending the day with great friends celebrating a wonderful occasion. We were supposed to all participate in Bark in the Park but it was pouring all morning so Mia and I didn't go. Instead, I went straight to Forest Park. Our great friends, Kate and Peter were getting engaged, in the rain, and we were waiting with a huge BBQ to celebrate. The rain didn't damper the mood or the day...it was such a happy celebration and no one minded getting soaked. Here are a couple of my pictures from the day.Me and Kate right after the engagement in the rain!Under tarp enjoying the party!All of my friends with the happy couple! It really was amazing because some friends come in town from New York, Chicago, and Florida just to celebrate with Kate and Peter. They are special people, I tell you!We ended the all-day celebration at Tom's Bar and Grill with some karaoke. Mike even joined us and drove straight from the wedding in Columbia. Congrats Kate and Peter. We really couldn't be happier for you two. LOVE YOU!

3. I "graduated" the next day. I didn't actually walk but I celebrated with a lot of family members with a BBQ at my parents house. It was perfect and I am so glad to be done!
4. I had a couple of crazy weeks finishing report cards and the school year. The last day of school was MY BIRTHDAY! Seriously, what a great way to celebrate a birthday. This year, marked my 27th year of life. I'm not going to lie. 27 actually felt different to me. No longer the mid-20s but now the late 20s. I can't really explain it but I think I finally understood why adults don't necessarily look forward to birthdays. Getting older is a part of life and blablabla, I just couldn't help feeling a little different about this one. But don't worry, that didn't mean I wasn't going to celebrate. Wednesdays are home to $5 buckets at the Bar Louie across the street so we were there! Not sure why the pictures are blurry but where are a couple with my friends and mom and my hunny.5. Since my birthday on the 26th, I have been eating, and eating, and eating. Seriously, it is gross. We have eaten every meal out since last Sunday! I guess that is what happens during your birthday week, huh!? Yesterday, we took a break from the eating to run a 5k in Forest Park. Man, it was hard...and uphill...and HOT! It wasn't our best run but we are alive. We are going to run Beca's Five in a few weeks so you should sign up too! It is a great cause and benefit's Beca and her fight for her life against melanoma.

6. Now that it is summer, I get to look forward to going HERE!May was a fantastic month! A month of happy endings, new beginnings, and wonderful life transitions and accomplishments.

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Best Day Ever!

Who would have thought that I would ever describe an experience that was centered around running as the "best day ever"?

We woke up bright and early on Sunday morning at 4:45 am. We put on our race attire, did a little stretching, and ate our bowls of oatmeal and PB&J sandwiches. (Funny side story...kind of. Mike realized as he was making breakfast that we only had 1 packet of oatmeal left. Then, he decided to make a PB&J and realized that we didn't have enough peanut butter for 2 sandwiches. We shared but the lack of food made me a bit nervous for him.) Before we left the house, I insisted that we had to snap a couple of pictures. You know, in case one of us died...We met over at Kate and Peter's house at around 6:00 to catch a ride with them. By the time everyone arrived and we were in the car, it was 6:30. I started to get nervous (I don't even know if nervous can best describe the anxiety that I had going into this day) that we would miss the 7 am start. We parked, hit up a port-a-potty, took the picture below, and started running toward the pace groups behind the START line. Lining up in that corral was really nerve-racking and the anxiety started kicking in again. At least we hadn't missed the start. Before I knew it, we were walking and eventually running across the start line. I could tell within minutes that this run was going to be different. The massive amount of people running at the same time was just incredible. Running down Broadway toward the Brewery, we were able to see an amazing sight. 17,000 were running down the street! My favorite part was only 1.5 miles in. Suddenly, across the street, the fast marathoners were looping back past us. They were only mile 4!

The first 6 miles of the course was wonderful. There was a small incline up Broadway, a few steeper hills through the Brewery and Soulard, and the big hill up Chouteau. Other than that, it was a pretty flat leg of the race. I heard that the other parts of the race had a lot more elevation changes so I guess I lucked out.

Before I knew it, we were at 6 miles and it was time to say goodbye to Mike. He was in great shape and surprising, so was I. Honestly, I have NEVER felt that good while running. I felt like I could keep going. I felt wonderful. I think I might have even smiled for most of the 6 miles. I said goodbye to Mike, met my relay teammate, Lynne, to pass on our timing tag, and she was on her way. I am not sure about official timing but my Garmin said that I ran 6.2 miles in 1:06. I was pretty darn happy with that. The atmosphere and the energy kept me going. All of the people around and the supporter just keep you going. It really is the coolest thing ever.

After about 30 minutes of walking around downtown, Kate and I found a good place to watch the finishers of the half marathon (right at mile 13). Our friends were rolling through and I was just waiting for Mike. We had no clue when he would be done but we guess between 2 hours and 2:30. At about 2:20, I saw this cutie running toward me.(The first thing that my dad said when he saw this picture is that he couldn't stop looking at the old lady who beat Mike. But that is the coolest part! There were so many older and larger people that were amazing runners. There was a man juggling and he was going faster than we were!)

I shouted and asked if he wanted me to finish with him. Earlier in the week when I asked him if I should meet him at mile 12 and finish with him, he told me no. But this day, he eagerly said yes so I jumped into the race and ran the last couple of minutes with him. I was so proud of him at that moment and I wanted to cry. After we crossed the finish line, I snapped another picture of my half-marathoner with his medal. Not looking too shabby for just finishing 13.1 miles, huh? Mike left to go back to Kate and Peter's to shower and change, while I met with with friends that finished the half. I had to wait until my relay team finished the whole marathon so we could cross the finish line together. It was such a beautiful day and I was so lucky to be able to meet us with friends and talk about the run.

At about 10:45, I got a text that our final relay member had started her run. We figured that we needed to line up to meet her at about 11:45. We stood at the top of the huge hill called Market Street and waited for our teammate to come. A few minutes later, we saw her coming up the hill. Our 4-person relay team rallied together to finish the marathon strong. We held hands crossing the finish line and were so proud of our time. When we first signed up, we had to guess a finishing time. We guessed 5 hours. Then after much discussion, we changed that finish time to 6 hours. I am proud to say that we finished the marathon in less than 5 hours! I think our time was 4:50ish. Here we are right after we got our medals...That's Tess, Kate, Me, and Lynne (Tess didn't get the memo about the blue shirts. Or putting on the medal. She does that sometimes.)

We ended the day back at Kate's for a bunch of food, drinks, and race talk. Nothing like mimosas to make you feel better after a long day... This day was really amazing. Inspiring. Wonderful. The best. I am SO proud of my friends, my husband, and myself. Only 7 months ago, my running journey began and I posted THIS about signing up for the Turkey Trot. At the time, I couldn't fathom running for 30 minutes straight. Reading through those Couch to 5K posts is fun...I really struggled. I still struggle and have bad days. But I would have never thought that 7 months later, I would be able to run for 66 minutes without stopping. NEVER. I want to run a half-marathon now. I know that it is going to be a big jump and a lot of work but I am ready for it. I am not sure which one I am going to sign-up for but it is in my future. Thank you for all of the people that have supported and encouraged me through this entire process. Thank you for all of you that ran on Sunday morning and inspired me to continue my journey. The running community is an amazing one and I am glad to be a part of it.

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Blog evolution

As my 2 year blogoversary approaches in January, I am enjoying a look back at all of the fun I have had in the past 2 years. The blog started as a fun way to talk about my wedding plans and DIY projects. Everything was pretty random after the wedding until little Mia came into our lives. I felt like she was all I wrote about. Recently, I started running (in case you didn't know) and my blog evolved into a running blog. Mike started photography and I am sure that my blog readers are getting sick of hearing about that too! Well...I don't care!

A couple of weeks ago, we/he shot 3 sessions in 2 days. Here are some of my favorites from the weekend. First, our friends Nick and Mimi and their baby, Collin.Next, we met Maggie, Dave, and their pup, Charlie...
The next morning, Mike met our friends Josh and Stacy (and their baby on the way) at Josh's fire station. I'm pretty impressed (but obviously biased). Thanks everyone who is following his blog and commenting on his posts. I know all of you bloggers love comments and they mean a lot to him too. Thanks for supporting him! I know he really appreciates the feedback, advice, and compliments.

I am looking forward to posting my own pictures soon. Mike will be photographing Stephanie's wedding in August and guess who the second shooter is?!?! ME! I have been tagging along with him and I really can't wait to learn more about photography.

I will continue talking about my running journey. I just committed to my first 10K run. I will be running the GO! St. Louis marathon relay with some of my girlfriends. I am a little nervous to train through the winter but I look forward to being about to run for 6 miles!

Just wanted to give a shout out to all of my readers for hanging in there with me and my ever evolving blog. To those of you that thought this post was going to announce something exciting, I'm sorry. You are going to have to wait a little bit longer for my blog to take that turn!

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Balloon Glow and Hop in the City

Last weekend was jam packed with fun, family, and friends. On Friday night, we went to the Balloon Glow in Forest Park. I had never been before and it was a really cool experience. We arrived at about 7:15 and most of the balloon were up and glowing.There were so many people and beautiful balloons. We were joined by my parents and my sister and her boyfriend, Kyle.When the sun went down, the balloons really started to glow. Every few minutes, someone would blow a bullhorn and the all of the balloon would fire up and glow. The whole area would light up and you could feel the heat on your skin. It was an awesome sight!Mike loved taking pictures of the fire up close.(You can check out more pictures on Mike's blog.)
At about 8:30, we started the trek back to our car. Then, we sat. In traffic. Not even traffic. In a parking lot. For 1 hour and 30 minutes. I was NOT a fan. We did see the fireworks from the lot but we weren't too happy. Final verdict: Although I loved the balloon glow and thought it was a great experience. However, I won't be going back for a long time. It was one of those "see it once, and don't need to see it again" kind of things for me. I am sure I will bring my future kiddos there someday but obviously, that won't be anytime soon.

Saturday was the day of the Hop. We weren't able to go to this amazing event last year but we did attend in 2007 and 2006. There's not too much to say about the Hop. You get a little cup and are able to taste 40 different Schlafly beers. It all starts off just great and turns into a pretty hot mess quickly. We even ran into Jenn and Mary. Great seeing you girls! Ok...time for the pictures...Final Verdict: I will attend this event every year that I can. SO. MUCH. FUN.

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Catching up!

I have been so busy these past couple of weeks and blogging has not been a top priority.

What I been up to, you ask?

The craziness started when Allison had baby Lincoln. We lost the picture temporarily but they are back!!! What a handsome guy!Why do we pose with other peoples' children? Really?
A picture with the beautiful mama.
And I just love me some baby toes ;)The next day, we went downtown for the Homerun Derby. We didn't have tickets but we had a great time partying anyways! First we met in Tess and Kevin's loft...And baby Truman!Then off to Mike Shannon's downtown. SO. MUCH. FUN!Look at all of the people. And this was before the Derby even started!The pictures go majorly downhill from there as the night went on so we are going to stop there.

After a day of packing, it was time to head to Destin, Florida for Tess' bachelorette party. I was lucky enough to be able to be in Florida from Wednesday night to Monday morning. We were able to stay in Tess' future in-laws' condos and they were fabulous. I stayed in the one right off the beach.The weekend was full of drinking, eating, and laughing with good friends.The whole group!On the night of the actual bachelorette party, we played Bar Golf? Have you ever played this game? Oh my gosh...it was so much fun and definitely ended in a drunken mess.

Here are some of us in our golfing attire...We were split into teams of 5 people...we knew immediately our time would win. Here we are!Here is a short explanation of the game. You go to 9 bars and each bar has a Par 2. That means your team needs to split 2 beers. After the 2 beers, you get 1 point for each addition beer and 2 points for each specialty drink your team takes. The first bars specialty drink was lemon drop, the next specialty drink was a Jagger bomb. Specialty drinks down line were tequila shots, daiquiris, bartender's choice... It was a blast! Starting to get a little more sloppy at the end of the night. Notice the grafitti-ed shirts.So much fun! Loved it!

For the past week that I have been home, I have been dedicating most of my time to finishing my work for my masters classes. I counted up yesterday and I have written 16 papers in the past 2 months. Seriously! 16! I am happy to say that I submitted the last of my papers to my teacher this morning and I am DONE! I am celebrating by going to the Cardinals game tonight with work friends! WOO HOO!

Of course, I have been working on the other blog and trying to get it exactly where we want it to be.

I also can't believe that I will be back to school in 2 weeks from today! Did this summer fly by or what?! I guess that is what I get for taking 2 very challenging classes and raising a beautiful little puppy. By the way...Mia is the best!

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