First Project of the 2010...

As you may know by now, we are headed to Cali on Tuesday for the National Title game against Texas. I needed an outfit with style. I had seen a SUPER cute jersey at the SEC Championship that have BLING all inside the numbers. I was smitten. I said right then and there, that will be in January. So, here is the plain jersey. Not near as cute as it turns out! I really wanted #13 because if we win, it will be Alabama's 13th National Championship. But, no go. So I settled for our first Heisman winner, Mark Ingram, #22.





Here are 300 Swarovski crystals... that's right 300!!!


Here is the nice Hot Tool that I had to purchase to do this...


It took 2 hours to place and secure the jewels on there, and I couldn't let my hard work go to waste, so I wore it to lunch.. and some of them fell off!!


This is me, working hard... which, this is also the first picture of my Project 365 I am doing!

Finished product... for the second time!

Let's hope these stay on, but I guess the Hot Tool will be coming with me to Cali.

Happy New Year!!

Farewell 2009

I've been doing a lot of thinking about the past decade. 10 years ago, I was a 15 year old girl. I had no idea who I was. I had no idea if I even wanted children or not and I definitely had no idea who I wanted to be when I grow up. When I started college, I still had no idea who I wanted to be and would often ask my mom," Can't you just TELL me what I am supposed to do with my life?!!?" I met John and the crazy thing is, he knows exactly what I need. He had no idea what I should be when I grow up or what kind of person I should/would be, but he has always known what is best for me.
I've been thinking a lot about the person I was then and person I am turning into be. I like the new me a LOT better. She isn't as loud(although, still sort of loud and highly opinionated), is a fierce friend, has found the passion for photography that grows everyday, loves her children more than anything, has a husband who is her rock, has a newfound relationship with her dad that she treasures, her sister is one of her best friends, has married into one of the most fabulous families ever, she isn't near as crazy as 15 year old me, is re-discovering her love for fashion, and is developing a love for running( who would've thought!).
I'm not sure 15 year old me would recognize me now, but who cares? She was slightly crazy anyway.
2009 was a year of discovery for me. Discovering how crazy life is with two small children. How sleep deprived one can actually be. How it's okay to need an anti-depressant everyday to not be a crazy person. How awesome I feel behind a camera. How right it feels for it to just be me, my iPod and a pair of running shoes.
I'll miss you 2009, but I have GREAT things planned for 2010.

Guest Posting!

Hey peeps! Just thought I would let you know that I am guest posting over at B is for Brown. If you haven't checked out Summer, she is absolutely amazing! And for those of you that remember this story.. it was a hard tie between that and the wedding dress story!

A Movie Date.

I realize that I have yet to blog about the holidays, but John was sick on Christmas, and I didn't take a whole lot of pictures. BUT I wanted to share this with you. Since I am off from my job that pays bills( AKA the Pain Center) and Addison is out of school, I have wanted to soak up every little bit of cuddliness with the girls.

I have been wanting to take Addison to see The Princess and the Frog and was looking at show times yesterday. There was one at 2:50, but I worried that it would interrupt her nap time, so I didn't say anything about it. As luck would have it, she woke up at 2:00 and was a MAJOR cranky pants, so I asked her if she wanted to go see it. We had a mini battle over clothing but she scooped up her drink and her Princess Tiana doll and was good. We dropped Claire-bear off at MeMac's house and off the the "movie show" ( that's what Addy calls it) we went. We got there right at 2:50, which was good b/c I didn't want to try to wrestle her too much before the movie. She wanted to sit in my lap and was immediately entranced in the previews.( Which, by the way, Disney had way too many of. HELLO? Everyone seeing this movie is under the age of 10, so let's keep the previews under 25 minutes.. Thank You!) There weren't a lot of people in the theatre which was good b/c she kept screaming out, "It's blue!" or "Look! Disney World!" but she was in good company, because so did the other little girls. The story was very good, but had some scary parts in it. At one point, she was kind of crying and hid her face in my shoulder. What do you DO when one of the characters dies?!!!? Hello, Disney?!!? What was that about?!!? A 3 year old doesn't understand that the bug is going to Heaven to be with his Evangeline. The music was great, but I am so glad to have this memory with her. I sat there cuddling her, as she clutched her Princess Tiana doll and watched her very first Princess movie on the big screen. She kept turning around and kissing me on the cheek and rubbing my cheek. She is so sweet and loving, most of the time. Her innocence is so incredible to watch.

My Grandmother always talks about taking me to see my first Princess movie, The Little Mermaid and how I cried and I can't help but think, "Aww... Addison cried at her first Princess movie, too!"

The music was fantastic too! I highly recommend taking any little girl that has a Disney Princess obsession. They will love it!

I DID IT!!!

That's right, biatches! I ran my first race! It was awesome! I know you want the story, so here goes.

Saturday morning, we woke up at 5:00 because we had to get the girls to MeMac and then get to Huntsville, which is about an hour away and of course, John wanted to stop at Panera Bread. Can I just say, it was about 40 degrees and slightly raining. Fun times! My dad is the ONLY person to call and wish me good luck! Thanks, Dad! I will give MeMac credit too, since she was still giving me some tips this morning and she did call during the race to see if I was finished and she did keep the girls so I could do this. Thanks, MeMac!

Any first time runners? ME!

(Can I just say how old I look? Botox is definitely in my future!)

As I was standing out in the cold, waiting on the race to start, I could just think, I am really about to do this!! The guy tells us they had to re-route the race so it's a little bit longer than a 5K. What would you think it meant? A couple hundred yards? How about a whole MILE longer? Thanks for the warning, dude! It bottle necked pretty bad around the construction area, but it wasn't too bad. Most of the course went through Historic Huntsville and there were people outside their houses clapping and cheering us on. It was so awesome! I did walk some, and as Ermitrude( my Nike + girlie) told me I only had 200 meters left, I was still in great shape and running and feeling good. I realized when she said that I should be finished with my race and we weren't back in downtown, that I had no idea how much longer this race was going to be. I had e-mailed a girl from high school that runs all the time( she just finished her qualifying time for the Boston Marathon!) and told her I was running and she came back after she finished and found me and ran and pushed me through that last mile. It was so awesome. I thought I was going to pass out once I saw the finish line and actually uttered the words, "I can't do it anymore!" Linda said, "Listen to that negative attitude! You can see the finish line!!" and some of the people around me started telling me that I could do it, and I did!! I ran across that dang finish line and it was awesome and I hot and sweaty and wet from the rain.

( I'm struggling!)

YAY!! I did it! This is me crossing the finish line!

Tired and hot!

All in all, it was awesome and I can't wait to get out there and do it again! I officially finished in 35:13. Which, I say, isn't that bad! So, thanks for all of the encouragement and well wishes from everyone. I truly appreciate it!

Baby, It's Cold Outside...

I went to lunch with my in laws and hubby yesterday and Linda was giving me all kinds of tips for running on Saturday. We talked about how I wasn't sure what I was going to wear and it was brought up that I might want to wear running tights. Since I run in shorts on the treadmill and get so hot, I hadn't really thought about it. John suggested that I might want to do a run outside to see what the difference was. So, I elected to go home after lunch, put on my running gear and hit the pavement. Did I mention it was 40 degrees outside?

Yes. It was 40 degrees outside. And I was in shorts and a jacket. The first two hundred yards it felt like an elephant sitting on my chest every time I took a deep breath. My jaw ached. My nose starting running. My legs were COLD. I started to get used to the difference in air, but it made a BIG difference in my endurance. I wasn't expecting that. I ran about 2 miles and my legs were ridiculously red and frozen. So, I called it quits. And ran to Hibbetts to try to find some running tights. They had 3 brands. And I didn't like any of them. My butt looked especially disgusting. I would feel sorry for the person running behind me. It was THAT bad. Plus, I'm having a hard time justifying a pair of $50 running tights the week before Christmas.

Anyway, I'll be doing the rest of my runs outside this week, but I don't hold any illusions of grandeur about running this entire race.

Any suggestions on the cold weather running gear?

It's official. I'm running.

Well, I did it. I signed up for my very first race. It's official. It's Saturday morning. And I am not ready. I cannot run 3 miles straight. I am extremely nervous. Are the other runners going to laugh at me because I will have to stop and walk? How do I sign in? What DO I DO??? I have no idea how any of this works, all I know is that I want to cross the finish line.

I bought these new head band elastic things to keep my hair out of my face and all it does is get on my nerves. So, I'm not sure what I am going to do about that. And what do I wear??? I mean, obviously, running gear, but do I do a long sleeve shirt or short sleeve since that is what I am comfortable in? But what if it's too cold?

Maybe I am too OCD about this. BUT, I WILL CROSS THE FINISH LINE. I am just hoping that pure adrenaline can get me there. I'm not completely out of shape, mind you, but I am most comfortable running at a 9:00 min pace, but my lungs just can hang with that. *sigh*

I definitely am needing some encouragement.

My mom is against my running. She has arthritis and has made it very clear that she thinks I am stupid for doing this because I am ruining my joints.

but... I WANT TO!! So, I will.

I found this on someones profile and now I can't remember where it was, but it gave me some encouragement this morning: " Let us run with endurance, the race that is set before us." Hebrews 12:1.

How awesome is that?

Anyway... wish me luck!