Five on Friday

Happy Friday y'all!!

1 - Clearly I love link ups!  Nothing wrong with 2 in one week if you as me ;)  And it's important to always count your blessings, so I'm loving listing my fav things for the week!

2 - Today is the official start of summer & the longest day of the year!!  We're celebrating by catching a few rays in between classes at the box today & maybe a little happy hour on our patio later.  Pretty close to perfect minus some type of body of water {preferably a lake or ocean, but sadly neither are in our back yard!}!

3 - Instagram has video!!

I saw this picture yesterday on Instagram and was thoroughly amused!  I couldn't really get into vine!  I just couldn't wrap my head around another form of social media to use.  But I can definitely get into some video on Instagram!!  It's one of my fav forms of social media to begin with, I think video will be fun.  

And Vine, let's be honest...you just got blocked.

4 - This is our first weekend in a while with no real commitments or plans!!  After classes at the box & working out tomorrow, we'll probably hang in the back yard for a bit.  Then we've made loose plans for a little shopping {new bed = new bedding!} and an at home Paleo pizza/movie night.  Sign me up!

5 - 90s Pop Radio on Pandora.  Go add this station immediately!  How could you not love a little Third Eye Blind, Sugar Ray, Britney, Will Smith, Mariah, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Hanson....the list goes on & only gets better!  Such good jams!!!

What's your Five on Friday!?  Cheers!

Friday Favorites

I just like Friday's.  Friday's my favorite!

 via

For obvious reasons, Friday is one of the best days of the week!!  So to celebrate it's awesomeness, here are my favorite things about {this} Friday....

It brings the weekend!!!  Duh!!  Captain Obvious here ;)

It also brings my husband home & my family to town!!  B was home Monday night in exchange for traveling Thursday night.  Can't win 'em all I guess!  And my SIL is having a baby shower this weekend!!!  Hard to believe baby girl will be here in about 6 weeks!!  Can't wait to meet my new niece!!!

There are officially 7 weeks of school left.  7!  That sounds manageable, yes!?  Let's hope!!

We're having turkey burger's for dinner with some homemade sweet potato fries & fruit!  Yes, I'm already thinking about dinner.  We all know a fat girl lives in me, let's be real!

It's rest day!  Girl needs a day off from the gym!!  No workout today, ya know, besides vacuuming my whole house!

This song on the radio on my way to work this morning!  Oh Phillip Phillips...you've done it again! Love this song...makes me happy and reminds me of my man!!  Have I mentioned he comes home today?!  :)  Happy day!

Happy Friday, happy weekend, happy!!!

Loving Lately

It's Wednesday y'all!  Which means it's practically Friday eve already, so we're keeping it light around here, k!?

Some of my fav bloggers do a post every few weeks featuring their most current obsessions as of late.  I have a couple things I'm currently swooning over so I figured I'd hop right on the bandwagon :)

Seche Vite  Y'all!!  I've seen April post about this miracle top coat a few times and have no clue why it took me so long to go buy it!  It's the next best thing to having your own nail toaster for at home shellac manis!  But let's be real, I'm not buying an at home nail toaster.  Ain't no body got time for that!  I wouldn't toy with you my friends, this top coat made my nails dry super fast & shine like I just walked out of the nail salon!  I'm sold.

I take lots of beauty advice from April y'all!  Girl knows her stuff ;)  She posted about this mascara some time ago somewhere on social media & I didn't wait very long to pick up a new tube to try out.  I was then in love with my fat, gorgeous lashes!  

2 tubes later I thought I'd switch it up and try something different.  Aka the twitterverse has raved about Falsies so I thought I'd give it a try.  Mistake, mistake!  If it ain't broke... I gave it a good 3 or so weeks and Falsies just didn't do it for me.  Back to my L'Oreal love!!

I bought this fun spring pink last week on spring break and now I'm obsessed!  Essie Muchi, Muchi :) I'm a sucker for a pretty pink nail and this is the perfect shade!!

I think I'm behind the times with this one, ha!  I've never been one to wear foundation.  Thanks to mother nature and maybe some good genes I've always had pretty clear skin {ya know, except for those awkward teen years} and never needed to wear foundation.  Too heavy and just yuck!  

So when all the rage about BB Cream started I was less than interested.  But I've mixing it with my moisturizer and now I'm hooked!  Feels light and makes me glow {ya know, in my opinion} ;)

This radio is the bees knees!!  It's from Uncommon Goods & my MIL got it for me for Christmas.  We have enjoyed the heck out of it so much already!  It blasted some country while we sipped a few adult beverages in our driveway a few weekends ago {we're so classy!} and pushed me through a little at-home-outside WOD yesterday afternoon!  Awesome gift!

This article.  Go read it!  It's long, but for real, go read it.  It has everything to do with why I wrote this post last summer!!  And completely sums up the same exact thing I would tell my previous 18 year old self or an 18 year old asking for my advice.  Well said Mr. Turner, well said.  It's a scary world out there y'all!

throw back

A run/dinner date with this pretty lady tonight!  The weather is too gorgeous not to!!  It's calling us to the greenway and to a patio somewhere with a cold glass of white wine!  :)

Happy hump day friends!!

Midweek Randos

Happy hump day friends!!  Thought I'd pop in for a little midweek randomness :)

1.  Today is actually like my Thursday because tomorrow is my Friday!  Friday is a workday so I'm opting to start my spring break a little early!!

2.  Thank all that is holy for spring break.  Seriously y'all, this spring semester has about kilt me!

3.  We'll be in Charleston for the second half of my spring break and the weather is not looking so hot.  Literally!  Highs only in the 60s, rain chances....what is this?!  I am in need of beach weather, or at least 70s!  Come on Momma Nature, help a sister out!!

4.  We're not having the best weather luck lately!  Our Spartan Race weather this past weekend was not the greatest ever.  I was nervous about surviving, but I posted Monday and if y'all follow me on Instagram, then clearly you figured out I survived :)  A full race recap is coming, I'm just waiting on Spartan Race to post their pics!!

Spartans!!!

5.  Can we talk about the awkwardness of my hands in this picture!?  Hahaha, I was clearly super muddy and just didn't know what to do with them.  Just call me Ricky Bobby I guess!

6.  Erin, from BlueEyedBride, posted yesterday asking what's your strut song?  I could definitely strut to a bunch of the songs her readers left, but when I was running tonight I realized my ultimate strut song when it came through my 'Run' shuffle mix...

Matisse featuring Akon - Better Than Her

This is definitely my dance around the bedroom, run a little faster, walk a little taller song!  Do you have a strut song?

7.  So I started making my bed every morning last week!  For all of like 4 days in a row....and now I've gone 2 days without making it.  I've already fallen back to my old ways!  Oops!!  I'll restart tomorrow!

8.  I hate ending things on odd numbers.  Weird?  Yes.  Slightly OCD?  Yes.  Now you know :)

Hope you have a super fantastic end to your week!!

Cupid's Cup 5K

This morning we ran in the 2012 Cupid's Cup 5K!

via

This was my 5th year to run, Brandon & my friend Andrea's 2nd year to run, and my friend Courtney's 1st year to run!  After 5 years, I feel like its tradition and I think I have to keep running it forever, now.

I first ran it in 2008 when I lived with my brother.  His company was one of the sponsors so we signed up & the rest is history :)

Of course the morning we're running a 5K outside it decides to be winter in North Carolina. It was a crisp 36 degrees when we woke up!  Brrr!

My goal every year is pretty much just to do better than last year.  I've consistently brought my time down each year I've run, starting at about a 10 minute mile.  Today I ran at an 8:49 pace for a finish time of 27:14!!  I shaved 10 seconds off last years pace and achieved a personal best - so I'm pretty pleased with myself!  (Even if it is just a measly 5K :)

Brandon, me & Andrea afterwards

Brandon & Andrea are beasts and ran the thing in just over 21 minutes!  Andrea has those long legs and ostrich like strides & B's just fast!  We forgot to take a pic at the race so Courtney wasn't in the pic :(  I may or may not be standing on my tip toes.

I made a new 5K playlist to pump me up for the run & that it did!  I was jammin' and singin' the whole time!!  These are the perfect songs to get you pumped up for a good run or workout :)

My 5K Get-Your-Rear-In-Gear-Run-Faster Playlist

(I play on shuffle!)

Angel - Akon

Turn Me On - David Guetta feat. Nicki Minaj

Club Can't Handle Me - Flo Rida feat. David Guetta (<----This is the song we were 

announced to at our wedding!  Always gets me going :)

Good Feeling - Flo Rida

Tonight Tonight - Hot Chelle Rae

I Like It Like That - Hot Chelle Rae feat. New Boyz

Domino - Jessie J

Better Than Her - Matisse feat. Akon

Drive By - Train

Hope your Saturday is shapin' up nicely!  Happy running & happy weekend friends!

100

This is my 100th blog post y'all!!!

Can you believe it!?  I definitely can't...where has the time gone??  All these posts sure have added up quickly & it's been a fun ride so far!  Before you know it, it'll be my 1 year blogaversary!

Today was also the 100th day of school!  100 down, 80 to go :)  Bring on Spring Break & Summer.  Amen.

We had a great weekend including new recipes, birthday parties, family time, and a little football watching!

Saturday morning we got our workout in, and then it was birthday time!  My family came into town to celebrate the birthday of this sweet little 6 year old!

My niece, Roen James

She told her daddy she really wanted some flowers for her birthday, so my Memaw had me stop to get her some from her since she couldn't be there.  She loved them!!

How can this precious girl already be 6!?  Wasn't it just yesterday that she was this cute little thang!?!

We had lots of fun at Roen's birthday party and she got a lot of sweet loot!  We got her a new book & some face pencils for lots of dress up fun :)

They went ahead and broke out the face pencils & Uncle Brandon and I attempted a little face art :)  We're not artists, that's for sure, haha.

Jude wanted to be Spiderman...all over his face!  Somehow we got him to settle for just the cheek & orange and brown since we didn't have red and black.  Roen wanted a swirly, wirly design & Uncle B did pretty good I think :)

And just for fun, I can't leave out this funny guy!!  He steals the show a lot!

Wells is so trendy, obviously!

Saturday afternoon we took naps of pure perfection with the gloomy weather we had outside! Then after some hemming & hawing I decided on some Pinterest recipes to try out that night, which I'll post later this week.  They were definitely keepers!

Sunday, we met the fam at my bro & SIL's church, Warehouse 242.  I'm so blessed every time I go there.  I think I'd like to go back a little more often.  After church, we had lunch at Pike's Soda Shop - always a winner!!

Then we needed to run off Pike's so we could indulge that night for some game time treats! Brandon made his world famous (ok maybe just family famous) Turkey burgers and I took care of the roasted veggies...yum!!  I was definitely rootin' for the Giants because I strongly dislike Mr. Brady & his Patriots!!  

I still have a bad taste in my mouth from when they beat us in Super Bowl 38.  YUCK!  I may be a little bitter....but at least now we have Super Cam :)

via

Starting last night, The Voice is back!!  Oh my word, I love!  And it's on again tonight!  It's a bright spot in my Monday.  I love the banter between the judges & the eye candy (ahem...Adam Levine & Blake Shelton) & the downright talent on this show!!  It brings out the choir nerd in me.  Way better than American Idol!  Yep...I just said it!

I hope there was a bright spot in your Monday - however superficial or teeny tiny or dim it may have been! And here's to 100 more blog posts!!! :)

Midweek Randomocity

I have an overflow of randomocity going on in this brain of mine lately....so be warned...I'm about to dump it all out!!  :)

1 - I've come to the realization that I'm in a big running funk right now.  I just can't seem to shake it!  Every run, whether it's 2 miles or 6 miles, feels like I'm running up hill both ways, in the snow, with weights around my ankles (ok now I'm exaggerating!), but for real every run seems hard lately!  Like way harder than normal!  I don't know what it is....but this seems to happen every few months and my work outs had been going really well lately so I guess I was over due!?

I get pretty discouraged during these funks, but what can ya do!?  Just like anything else, this too shall pass and I'm gonna keep on keepin' on...

....and I'm gonna keep telling that lying sl*t to shut it!! ;)

2 - Speaking of my running funk, any time Turn Me On by David Guetta feat. Nicki Minaj came blaring through my headphones these past few days I found myself running a little faster and a littler harder!  It's pretty much the perfect running song and will get your rear in gear!  Fo' reals (yep, I just said that!)

3 - Speaking of perfect running songs (look at all these great segues going on in my brain!?), I'm currently developing a new bumping 5K playlist!  We'll be running a 5K 2 weeks from this Saturday (this will be my 5th year to run this same race, so now it's tradition!) and I need some bumping, upbeat, popping music to run to. I've brought down my time each year in this race, so this year is no exception!  Mas rapido!!  I'll post the playlist once it's finished.

4 - Obviously, I'm a woman of many talents, I speak un poquito of Spanish!!  Actually, I don't, at all.....I just googled how to say "a little bit" in Spanish :)

5 - I've run out of good segues.....so anyways....I drove to the gym today with my windows down!  Did ya catch that!?  On January 25th I had my windows down, sunglasses on, enjoying the breeze on my drive!!  This is winter right!?

6 - I am not complaining though at all!  If it's not going to snow, then I see no need for cold weather.  I'm over winter....let's just move onto spring!!  All in favor?

7 - Work is overly stressful lately.  I know, everyone's job is stressful, but I just need to whine for 3.5 seconds. Sometimes I feel like I'm just treading water in order to have all of my plans together for even just the next day, let alone next week or the week after.  Sometimes it seems I just can't get ahead.  And that is this week.

8 - So I've been drinking regular shots of this....

....and taking lots of deep breaths.  It's all I can do.  My 3.5 seconds is up - pity party ova!

9 - Aside from work stress, life is pretty good so I shall not complain :)  I am thankful tomorrow's Thursday! That means my man comes home & we're taking his colleague who's been traveling with him this week out for some Mexican and showing him a bit of downtown Charlotte!  Thursdays also bring good Thursday night TV (Grey's & Private Practice!) and Friday - so who doesn't love that!?

10 - Friday night, we'll be putting a wedding gift to use - we finally seasoned our steel wok that we received as a wedding gift (yes, 14 months later!) and I'll be trying out Classic Annie's Pad Thai recipe!!  I'm super excited cause I love me some thai food :)  Hopefully, I can make it taste just like Basil!

We're over the hump y'all....it's all down here from here :)

Wordless Wednesday

If you know me, you know I sing.  I don't claim to be awesome (if you don't use it, you lose it!)....not so much a soloist....and I surely will not be trying out for American Idol next season.  But I can carry a tune.  I have been known to jam out to this lovely lady.  I love most of her songs, especially this one!  She sings right in my range and man, when I'm singin' in the car, I sound just like her :)

These are the days that I will remember

When my name's called on the role.

He'll meet me with two long stem glasses

and make a toast to me comin' home.

**guess I'm not so good at this wordless thing ;) worth a shot**