Yikes!

How is this the only professional picture that they got of me?

And I thought I looked rough in the ones that Ben took!

3M Half Marathon

I ran the 3M Half Marathon this morning, and it went really well.

First of all, the weather amazing.  It was in 30's/40's the entire time {so much better than last year's warm/humid weather}, and although my feet were somewhat numb when we first started, I quickly warmed up, and the cool air felt great.

Several of the women in my running group ran 3M this year, and although we didn't all run it together, we did a pretty good job of breaking into groups so that no one had to run it alone.  My personal goal was to run it faster than I did last year and try my best to keep up with Stephanie. 

The race started at 6:45 a.m. at the Arboretum, and after running 13.1 miles, we finally crossed the finish line on Congress just south of the Bob Bullock Museum.  Ben, Holly, and Nelson came out to cheer me on, and I loved the fact that I got to see them a total of 5 times along the course and then at the finish line. 

Holly even made a hot pink poster that said, "my sister runs faster than your sister", and it was definitely the best one that I saw out there.  Some of my other favorites were "pain is weakness leaving the body", "pain is temporary but pride is forever", and "toenails are for wimps".  Haha -- so true.

Unfortunately, my shoe came untied at mile 12, so I lost a little bit to time with that, but I ended up crossing the finish line at 1:58:58 with an average pace of 9:05 per mile.  I was completely exhausted at the finish, but considering my time was 7 minutes faster than last year, I was very happy with my time -- and the fact that I didn't have to run anymore.

Thanks so much to Ben, Holly, and Nelson for coming out to cheer me on.  Y'all are definitely the best fans, and I love all of you!

This and That...

This past week was such a busy one, but in a way, I feel like that's every week.  I always have so much going on.  It's no wonder I always feel so behind -- at work, with Special Olympics, with WTS, and just with life in general.  I keep thinking it's going to slow down one day, but I have a feeling that I'm going to have to master the response "no" before that ever happens. ;)

I never got a chance to blog about it, but Steve also spent most of the week in the hospital with diverticulitis.  He went in on Monday and came home on Thursday, and thankfully, after being on both antibiotics and morphine, he's feeling a lot better.  Unfortunately, while he was in the hospital, he found out that he's going to need to have surgery again to remove more of his colon.  It won't happen for another 6 weeks or so, but please keep him {and Kyle} in your prayers. 

And, on that note, another prayer concern that's been weighing on my heart a lot this week is for my friend Brandi and her little sister Nikki who was just recently diagnosed with glioblastoma -- a very aggressive and malignant brain tumor.  Brandi is one of Cheryl's best friends, and both she and Nikki are such incredibly sweet girls.  I really hate that they are going through this right now and am praying that God will hold Nikki and her family close and ease their pain.

As for this weekend, we didn't do anything too crazy, but it did go by a lot faster than I wanted it to.  On Saturday, I went for a run and to the grocery store, and then we spent the rest of the day doing things around the house -- like finally putting all of our Christmas stuff back up in the attic along with all of my childhood stuff that I brought over from my parents' house this past summer.  On Sunday, we went to church and tried out a new Sunday school class, and then we went to a baby shower for one of Ben's friends from work.

The only pictures that I took this weekend were of Ben and Miles hanging out.  They watched "Little Einsteins" together...

 

...and they played Tiger Woods golf on Ben's phone.

Gone are the days that they didn't really care much about one another -- and the days that Miles would rather hang out with me.

I hope each one of you had a wonderful weekend and are ready for yet another busy week -- because ready or not, here it comes. ;)

Happy Birthday Holly!

Happy 25th birthday to my little sister, best friend, and favorite partner in crime.

I have always loved being your big sister.

And I am so proud of everything that you've accomplished over the past 25 years.

Happy Birthday Holly.  I hope this year is the best one yet!

He's Baaack!

Ben's back from his business trip to Kansas City, and I am so glad.

FaceTime is handy, but I like having him home way better.

Bridal Extravaganza

Holly, my mom, and I went to the Bridal Extravangaza today.  We were there for over 2 hours and talked to a lot of vendors --  although the only ones that we really cared about were the DJs, videographers, florists, tuxedo rentals, and dress stores.  Personally, my main goal was to get my money's worth in food.  I tried several different kinds of cupcakes, cake, shrimp, ceviche, brisket stuffed mushrooms, fajitas, and chips & salsa.  As I popped one of the mini-cupcakes into my mouth, a lady asked me if I was the bride-to-be, and I responded with "No, I'm just here to hold her bag and eat the cupcakes".  Haha -- at least I'm honest!  We had a great time walking around, getting ideas, and talking about all things wedding.  I still can't believe my baby sister is getting married in less than 11 months.  This year is going to fly by!

5 Years and Counting...

Ben and I went to Eddie V's tonight to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary.

It was a perfect date night.

 

We had a great time talking all about our past, the present, and our future, and the food was amazing.  We had oysters as an appetizer, the filet mignon and swordfish steak as our entrees, and the Godiva chocolate cake for dessert.

The only bummers of the night were when I pulled my camera out of my purse so that our waitress could take our picture, and I couldn't get it to turn on.  I vaguely remember dropping it on the tile earlier this week, so unfortunately, I think it's a goner.  And, to top it off, we also ended up getting a parking ticket.  The sign that we thought said "No Parking 7am-4pm" actually said "No Parking 7pm-4am".  Oops -- I guess we should have just valeted.

Thankfully, I'm married to somebody who doesn't "sweat the small stuff" {he calls them "first-world problems"}, and although I'm not quite as laid back as he is, I've improved a lot over the last 5 years.  What can I say?  We make a good team.  And as Holly said in a text early this morning "half of a decade down, many more to go".  I can't wait.  I love my life -- and my husband. :)

Happy New Year!

Ben and I rang in the New Year this past weekend at Justin {Ben's college buddy} and Natalie's wedding in San Antonio.

G came over to stay with Annie and Amos, and of course, they were super excited about that.  They started barking and running around like crazy as soon as they saw her pull up and get out of car, and thankfully, she was just as excited to see them.  She even brought them both new dinosaur bones, which they loved.  Between all the chewing and being spoiled by G, I don't think that they weren't too disappointed to see us go.

Before we left, G snapped a few pictures of us in front of our "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree, and then, we were on our way.

Both the wedding ceremony and reception were on the Riverwalk at the Omni La Mansion Del Rio.  The ceremony was in the courtyard, and it was beautiful.  The weather was perfect for an outdoor wedding {I didn't even need a shaw!}, and everything so beautifully decorated with poinsettias, white lights, and candles.

And in addition to all of the chairs, there were tons of people standing up in all of the balconies.  It was really cool.

Natalie looked gorgeous, and Justin cleaned up nicely, too.

The ceremony was beautiful, and right after Justin kissed his bride, everyone threw their paper airplanes {as opposed of throwing rice or bird seed}.

The new Mr. & Mrs. Justin Goodman.  Yay!

After the ceremony, we all headed upstairs for the reception.

We sat at a table with all of our friends {and their spouses/girlfriends} from Texas A&M, and we had a blast reminiscing, catching up, and eating the delicious appetizers that came out every hour.

John, Kari, Justin, Natalie, Darcy, Boone, Ben, me, & Joey 

After the reception, our group and a group of Natalie's friends took the party downstairs but were quickly asked to find a room as we were a little on the loud side.  We ended up going to Joey's room, which actually ended up being our room, too.  With everything going on, I completely forgot to book a hotel room in advance, and by the time I remembered, the wedding book was sold out, and there was a 2 night minimum stay at $300+/night.  Thankfully, Joey didn't mind us crashing with him.

 

The only problem though was the fact that the party in that room didn't end until the wee hours of the morning, which left us feeling exhausted when we woke up.  After eating breakfast on the Riverwalk with Kari, John, Boone, and Darcy, we headed back to Austin to take naps and recover.  We're definitely not as young as we used to be, but we had a blast!

Congrats again, Justin and Natalie!  We are so excited for y'all!