2012 Goals

I am not going to even revisit my 2011 goals.  If you want to find them - read them whatever - I am gonna make you dig for them.  Sure 2011 is not over yet, but by the looks of my DailyMile training it has sucked when it came to working out and putting the miles down.  Highest monthly miles: 14.  Wowzas.

So in 2012 I am not gonna stress about it. I am getting married in March and that needs to be my main focus.  I do have a half marathon on the books for February which I need to really get some miles in, but all in all 2012 I am just gonna try to find the joy of running and get working out back into my life.  So if that means I only do 1 half, then so be it.

Goal #1 :: Feel REALLY pretty on my wedding day.  I of course want to look good, but I don't want to stress myself out over missed workouts for the next 3 months.

Goal #2 :: Find a work out routine that I love and stick to it.  Mix up the running and the cross training.

Goal #3 :: Run my half marathon in February.  In 2011 I "skipped" / DNS'ed all of my halfs.  I don't want to be a quitter anymore.

Goal #4 :: Run 20 mile months at the very least.  That is 5 miles per week.  That is do able. 

And that is it.  I didn't want to set too many or aim too high.  I want to be comfortable in 2012.

Wave of Accomplishment *almost*

 

my parents will be in route to Atlanta tomorrow to make some final wedding decisions.  Thursday = flowers!  and once the flowers are decided … I will be 100% planned.  The only thing that will need to be decided from there is the rehearsal dinner.  And well that is out of my hands.

But… with 4 months, 2 weeks, and 2 days to go I am pretty much 100% planned and that is awesome.

From there the only “to do’s” to do  --- buy the rest of the candy bar candy and candy bags.  Finish getting all the goodies for the welcome bags and stuff them and buy the 3 different signs from Etsy and buy the guestbook!

I would like to say the venue made all this so so so much easier.  But yeah it feels good to be pretty much DONE! 

Time to torture Kyle! =D

After all these months of making wedding plans and decisions, Kyle J has pretty much been on the sidelines.  Which is 100% fine, I don't really need him in their mixing and voicing opinions and making decisions harder than they really need to be.  Let's be honest, it is MY day and Kyle is just my arm candy.  But now it is time for Kyle to step in and help make some decisions.

...it is Tux Time!  Time for Kyle to play dress up and spin around for me.  Granted, he will only try on probably 2 Tuxes (and I tried on 200 dresses) he will still be miserable and unhappy.  Buck up Buddy!

We are going with a Gray Tux rather than a black one since Black is WAY too formal and I hate how Black looks with Navy and my girls are wearing navy.   I am leaning towards the darker one.... but it is ultimately up to Kyle since he has to wear it and then look at it for who knows how many years in pictures.  ....But I am going to find joy in tomorrow afternoon's excursion.  (I have bribed him with wings after though. But he knows he has to behave.)

we have a dark shade of gray.

....and a light shade of gray.

three things thursday–truth edition.

 

TRUTH #1.  I am going to have to make a BIG decision on if I want to continue with Blast900 or not.  I  have a few reasons why I am trying to decide if I want to continue on or not, but it really comes down to money.  It is SO expensive and I go once a week.  I will never ever ever say a bad thing about Blast because it REALLY is a great workout.  But looking at all the money I am spending on it vs. going to the gym – it just doesn’t really make sense.  In addition I am not seeing a real big impact on my running – granted, many weeks Blast is my only workout.  I  just need to decide if it is worth it or not.

TRUTH #2.  Um.  I have a half marathon coming up that I am NO WHERE and I mean NO WHERE near ready for.  I have never had a “DNS” but I kinda wonder if I should even attempt this.  Yeah…. I blogged about this on Sunday but I have been thinking about it ever since.  I am unsure if running 13.1 miles when I haven’t really run more than 3 is worth it – in the past when I have not been really ready, I have at least been in shape enough to push through, walk a bit then run.  But I just do not think that is the case this go around.

TRUTH #3.  I think I have like an OCD personality.  My reasoning?  I tend to throw myself fully into something but I can only really focus on 1 thing at a time.  Last year it was running – this year it is wedding planning.  I wish I could find a way to balance everything, but I tend to let 1 thing take over my life.  Maybe since the wedding is pretty much planned – I just have more candy and candy buffet accessories, the guestbook, welcome bag stuffers, and some super cute signs to buy and then I am 100% done (I think).  Maybe I can take the that time and move it to running.

busy 2 days of planning.

We (and by we I mean my Mom and me) had a busy two days of anything and everything wedding.  The place we’re getting married is the epitome of Paula Planners and everything is uber scheduled and structured.  (One of the many reasons I chose them…)  Since I wanted my parents involved in any decisions they wanted to be a part of and because my Mom wanted to be there for a lot everything is kind of worked around their schedule and if/when they can make it down to Atlanta.

Sunday: This past Sunday my Mom, Dad, Kyle and I went down to our wedding venue for their “Bridal Extravaganza” which included their food tasting, a chance to meet some of the vendors, and they had tables set up all over the venue to give you ideas for table settings.  Truthfully, the only thing I was really interested in was the food and the cake and let me tell you the cake it is good.  I am confident that we picked a really good flavor and I hope it tastes just as good in March 2012.  Best part – Kyle had to wear a name tag since him and I were booked to have our wedding there, we were supposed to get “extra attention” but I am glad that we didn’t.  I am not so sure Kyle liked the idea of wearing the “necklace” … but he was a good sport and I am pretty sure he just forgot about it. The food was GOOD and I think we made some good ideas on what we will serve everyone.   Well at least some food that I cannot wait to chow down on.

Monday: My Mom and I headed back down to McDonough not even 24 hours after the extravaganza.  (Oi. Lots of car time!)  But my 1st wedding planning meeting was supposed to happen in March but there is nothing like procrastinating and neglecting the biggest day of my life. Rawr.  And when I say we talked about a lot … we talked about A LOT.  Like we talked about how the sunsets at 7:53 and my idea of amazing candles and things like that just may not work. Rawr. I feel like I was uber unprepared and my wedding coordinator probably wondered why I had no ideas and no suggestions and no real opinions.  I really need to meet with her when I am on a ohhh I want to think about the wedding rampage. We talked about everything from ceremony location to ceremony time to what kind of food we’re going to serve to the types of tables we will have to our cocktail hour to bridesmaid dress colors and head counts and grandparents.   My head is spinning just thinking about it all. I left with homework (song list, ceremony information, choosing a ceremony time, number of rooms to be blocked off, flower ideas, blah blah blah) and evidently you cut the cake to a song and I have to think of a cake cutting song.  Can’t we just cut the cake and smash it in each other’s faces in an awkward silence?!

Why oh why is wedding planning such a pain?  Needless to say, Kyle and I will be eating Chinese, watching Shark Tank and talking wedding everything tonight.  So make it 3 fun days of planning.  Or 2 days and a night.  ….isn’t 8 months a LONG time?!

wedding napkins!! how cute are these?

And … how cute are these napkins.  They are navy, lavender and off white and they say “the perfect pair” and I think they’re so crazy cute.

So as you grab a drink from the bar you can grab one of these and as you take some sort of snack from the server you will grab one of these too. 

Sometimes I feel like such a wedding dork but it is the little things that I think are so super unique and cool.  And I know that other people have personalized napkins so this is nothing new that people have not seen… but I still think it is a cute idea.   And there is a chance that if we entertain you at our house at any given time in 2012 you may get a wedding napkin – or you all can snack and drink a lot so we don’t have left overs. =)

little details and ideas.

I am so detail oriented and love love love little details.  One of the things that I am most excited about are the little details.  The things that will make my wedding photographer die, because he too loves detail.   I don’t want to give away all the surprises…. like what I have planned for my “something blue”  but I do have a million and one ideas floating around my head right now.

Head Table:

So…. I hate hate hate sweetheart tables. And then I also hate head tables.  If it was 100% up to me,  Kyle and I would sit with our friends.  Therefore…. I am tossing around the idea of one big amazing head table that has both Kyle and me at it but also our whole bridal party and their date.  There date would be sitting there too because I have been in too many weddings where there are head tables and members of the bridal party have complained about not being able to sit with their date. blah blah blah, not a good time to complain but I am going to try and avoided the complaining, by doing this:

Tables:

In fact.  I kind of love the idea of all square tables.  I wonder if my venue can pull that off.  Do they make square linens? How many people sit at a round table?  I am thinking 8 at the square tables.  Ugh another reason why a seating chart may work best.  Goodness.

but then…. I stumbled across this picture and LOVED that idea too.  Notice the long square (that would be a rectangle. duh) “head table” in the center, surrounded by both square AND round tables.  and the square tables have 3 on each side + 2 on each end  = 10 at each table.  And I l-o-v-e the tall center pieces at the round tables and low at the square tables.  I love how that makes different levels. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE.   ….ladies and gentlemen, we may have found the setup for my reception (minus the dark depressing linens) should the venue be able to do this and they bettter!!!

Place cards:

I am not in love with the idea of seating charts since I have heard they can be insanely stressful to put together but my wedding may come down to that.  Oi. Not fun.  But in an ideal world everyone would be able to chose their own seat but since we’re tossing around the idea of giving people the choice of what they want to eat we need to help the servers out a bit.  So, going with the vintage, shabby chic vibe I am aiming for I thought it would be totally classy and awesome to do “place cards” and depending on what menu item they chose their name would be a certain color.  Purple for option 1 and navy for option 2.  AND…. how vintage and shabby chic awesome are these?!

Mantle:

When we went venue “shopping” and chose our venue I fell in love with the rustic chimney, fireplace thing and decided that is where the ceremony would take place.  Since I want an early evening ceremony I want lots of candles.  Theme: vintage, shabby chic, lush, romantic, anthropologie.  ….And I stumbled across this and want it created on the mantle.  Please and thank you.  I love the tall, thing candles and candle holders and the lush white hydrangea flowers.  I don’t think I want the flowers as “high” as they are but how lovely is this?!  Screams romantic and weddings are romantic.  Yeah!

brides bouquet:

not so fast.  I am totally not going to show you what I have in mind.  as I said before.  there needs to be some secrets.  but… I would l-o-v-e to incorporate a vintage fabulous broach on the stems wrap.  I cannot decide it I want something sparkly or pearly (like the right pictures) or  like a cameo broach (like on the left) it would be amazing if my mom had one in her jewelry box or stashed away somewhere.  can we say “something old” …. I will be going through her jewelry box when I am home in July.  and it not, I am sure I can find something wonderful on etsy. but seriously – how gorgeous does this look?

centerpieces:

I cannot decide between high or low – that’s why I think I decided today as I was pulling pictures that maybe a mix of both would be a good idea.  and I don’t know about colors, but I love the idea of crisp white but I also really want to add a touch of color. light blue. light purple. something..  these pictures really aren’t that great so I apologize and I am only showing 2 … I could show you 20 but I will spare you.

vines:

no not my last name, but like wooden vines. I don’t know how I would or if I would at all, but I love how the vines were used in 3 of these pictures. the bottom middle one, would make for a fabulous centerpiece. but, I doubt you will see vines at my wedding. sorry.

hair:

I love this hair.  And I love the sparkly hair thing that goes with it. the only problem with the hair pin, comb thing is that my jewelry isn’t sparkly.  and I feel like if I am going to have bling in my hair, I need to have bling on my ears and neck too.  Or am I wrong?   But I do love the messy low bun…. and the sparkly gives it a little flair.  oi.

okay. and with that I am done. for now.

invitations.

Goodness.  theknot.com and their to-do list is all sorts of crazy with their reminders and making things red to tell me that the task is overdue.  rawr.  for some reason making wedding decisions is not has fun as i had once thought it would be.  probably because there is so much to decide.
anyway. one of my overdue tasks was to look at wedding invitations. i always loved the invitation my brother & his wife did, but you cannot steal someone's wedding invitation that just wouldn't be cool.  so that idea was washed away.  and then i was like .... well, i have always loved wedding paper divas so i started there. and ordered a bunch of sample wedding invitations (and by a bunch i mean 6). too bad a few invitations i liked you were unable to order samples. unfair and not cool. 

the samples came in the mail yesterday and since i am home sick today, i decided to take a look at all the invitation sample i ordered.  SO, my bed. it looks like this:

my invitation criteria is this:

• it needed to be classy but fun.
• nothing too loud, but not too boring.
• i want people to open it and say what a cool invitation
• ideally, i would like it to incorporate my wedding colors. but my wedding colors are so weird i am finding that to be a difficult task.

this is harder than you would think. out of the 6 invitation samples I ordered, 2 were immediately selected as "no way no how" and there were 3 that I am like "yeah. yeah i could chose this one"  ... but needless to say, none popped out as BAM I must have those ones.  So obnoxious.   I really don't want to sit at an invitation store flipping through invites but I fear it may come to that....

if you've been married or are planning a wedding -- where did you get your wedding invites from?!

three things thursday.

thursday thurday {sing in the tune of the song monday monday}

1. in case you didn't know. nick saban's statue was unveiled this past weekend at the spring a day game.  he is now standing outside our stadium for eternity along side other great coaches.  I wish I could have been in Tuscaloosa this past weekend, A-Day always was a fun day. and just to throw some numbers out [not to brag about alabama's greatness or anything....] but alabama had 93,310 in attendance while our sister down the road only had 53,209.  ROLL TIDE!  ...i also heard that timmy tebow got a statue and my shrek looking nemesis cam newton is getting a statue too.  boo hiss. Evidently also the '10 team captains put their hands in cement outside of Denny Chimes.  Oh I love all of Alabama's traditions and can't wait to force my kids to go there.

2. ok seriously. is donald trump really going to run for president? is the republican committee really going to let him do this?!  i am really unsure what kind of value he can add to the united states. i mean no offense to the republican party (hey, i voted for mccain) but don't you all harp on obama all the time for his "lack of experience"?!  what kind of experience does trump have? he bankrupted his business (twice, right ... maybe even 3 times?), how is he supposed to pull us out of our current economic state and debt when he can't handle his own company's finances.  and good grief if the reality tv loving people vote for him we are all doomed... what is next snookie for president?   political rant. done and done. (how many followers did i lose!?)
3.  my wedding is a little over a year away, but i am slashing my to-do list left and right.  this past weekend i firmed up our minister.  and i am really excited about it. my friend since i was little (like 3 or 4 years old little) is a minister in tennessee and he agreed to be the one to marry kyle and me.  i think it is such a small, personal touch.  now i just hope he leaves the embarrassing stories in tennessee. now onto premarital counseling where we are hoping we're not told to reevaluate our relationship.  if you're not following our wedding blog, you should - HERE - i am trying to keep it as up to date as possible but not let out too many secrets.


....and a few extras.  Mitzi's fundraising boot camp.  This weekend. Piedmont Park by the 10th street entrance. 10:45 AM. Be there. Bring water and get ready to sweat.  It really is a great work out and it is all for a good cause. 

Three Things Thursday.

... three things thursday. once again. not about running. just about life. maybe i should change the name of my blog from "barbie rus" to "barbie lives" ...

1. This past Monday I put in my 2 weeks notice at the company I have worked at for pushing 3 years.  It was bittersweet, there are SO many things that I have loved about that company. But, in December I was contacted by a company to "talk" about them, me, and what I wanted.  We never connected for who knows what reason, but about 2 weeks ago I was courted again and started talking to them. They offered me a position I just could not turn down.  Though I loved working with my coworkers and many people in the company and though i loved SO many aspects of the company as a whole, I just felt thought it was time to gain new experiences.  I hate to say that I felt that I had hit my glass ceiling at the company I had been with for years, but I was having the feeling that I was "stuck" where I was since I was stable and good at my job.  My old company was without a doubt my "family" here in Atlanta... they're all I have really known since moving here and I am so so thankful for that and for them and for all the memories. I would lie if I said that it was not scary to jump and make a HUGE change since I had a world of job security at my old company, but you don't gain anything without trying and without taking risks no matter how huge they may be.  So what's next?  I am working as a Talent Manager and I will be responsible for building a team of recruiters, managing them, training and coaching and developing them, and still recruiting & working with clients.  Needless to say - I am ready for the challenge and am excited to be starting something new on Monday.  The question is: will it be better or worse for my running life.  They talked about a work life balance... so *fingers crossed* better.
2. After putting in my notice, I was pretty much told I was done - which is understandable since I was going to competition and had access to a database full of candidate and client info.  SO, I have had 4 days to watch Gilmore Girls, shop for the new house, read the book I have to read prior to Monday, lunched with girlfriends, run errands, drink wine, walk the dog, nap with the dog, play with the dog, and take bubble baths!  Tomorrow after lunch with a friend, I am planning on getting my Stone Mountain pass and suffereing through a run.  It has been the 1st 4 days where I had NOTHING to do since moving to Atlanta and I could totally do this for a living.  Why can't I just be rich with zero responsibilities.
3.  Kyle and I picked our 1st dance song last night and we danced to it in the living room.  And no... I don't want to share what our song is because I want it to be a surprise to those who will be attending our wedding.  I love the song so much that I am listening to it now.  Ok, one lyric and if you want to look it up, you can do so.... "you're a mystery, you're from outerspace, you're every minute of my everyday" ....  But I love having our house and all the space so we can dance to my iTunes.  Tomorrow is Kyle's birthday and I am even more excited about that!! =)

With that... I will now give my lifetime movie full attention! =)

LET THEM EAT CAKE!

One of these days I am going to have to pick a wedding cake to serve my wonderful guests.  And by one of these days, I mean my 1st planning meeting with the bridal staff at my wedding venue. And I have narrowed the cakes down to two!  *Which for me is quite the accomplishment*   So!  To the right, you can see the 2 cakes I am deciding between.  The one of the left would be the choice IF we chose to do a cake topper and there would be zero flowers on the cake because I do not feel real flowers belong on a cake.  The other one is SO wickedly gorgeous I do not even have words.  And it fits the vintage funky anthropologie vibe I am planning to have my wedding resemble.   That thick base and belted fondant flower is to.die.for.  .....it all comes down to if they can replicate that.  GORGEOUS.  ....so yes, I am for sure leaning towards the cake on the right but if that will be "the one" it is still to be determined. 

Kyle has told me that he does not want a grooms cake because he does not like sharing his "personal details" with others... I wish I could surprise him with one but I wouldn't do that to him.  A southern tradition that will not be done at our wedding. sad.

Oh the decisions that are to be made.  I keep staring at pictures and magazines and blogs and need to stop.... because I just keep getting flooded with better images than the last!

save the date selected.

So!  I settled on a Save the Date to send all our wedding guests -- now we just need to firm up the list, collect ALL the addresses, and chose what picture to use.  And of course we need to edit it with Kyle & my information and put our picture in. 

....those should be going out in April/May hopefully...  this upcoming move is going to put Kyle and me in the poor house for a little while...

three things thursday.

Hey Thursday.  This feels weird because up until today, I have not left the house since Sunday and no I do not have cabin fever.  Honestly, I am not even sure that today is really Thursday and if there wasn't a calendar to my right I would think today was Tuesday.

1.  I was out of work due to snow and ice on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. That my friends is a 5 day weekend.  And I managed to do NOTHING that I wanted to do.  The dog did not get washed (what a stinker).  I did not clean the bathrooms.  I did not start purging the crap that I have collected after 2 years of living in this apartment.  I did however, work from home a bit, lay in bed ALL day and watch The Millionaire Matchmaker, drink a few too many beers during the national championship [boo auburn], play Just Dance 2 on the Wii, and play with the dog.  ....wasn't a very productive 5 day weekend but I did enjoy being a bum with Kyle.  I did have to go to work today and let me tell you, I hate driving on ice.  At least this time I managed to not break the axle on my car OR pop a tire. baby steps my friends.  I will leave it at that.
2.  Even though there are 400+ days (that's over a year ya'll) till I get married, everyone has been bugging me about making a wedding website, but I thought those free sites from theknot.com and places like that are boring and not fun and with our families so far away, i decided to make a wedding website blog ... which will then turn into a newlywed blog / our life in georgia blog ... and maybe at some point a baby blog (maybe, babies freak me out).  SO if you care ... here is the link.  I am honestly going to try and keep up with that one more than I do the blog about our dog.
3.  Kyle and I found a rental house that we really really like and that lets you have pets (there are even doggie doors) and we decided to take the plunge and say bye to apartment living and hello to home living.  If our application is approved (and it is looking like it will be...fingers crossed) We move in February 15th, which means we need to pack and schedule movers and cleaning teams (thank goodness half depot has a coupon for steam cleaning). It is in Tucker, Georgia which gives me a longer commute but takes miles off of Kyle's (we're now basically in the middle) and it has a pretty good kitchen, a HUGE master bedroom and an awesome bathtub. =)  We're excited about this and I am REALLY excited about decorating and all the cabinet space and now we need to learn how to use a lawn mower.  Oi.

wedding shoes.

No. The dress has not been bought nor have any been tried on, but the shoes have been purchased.  Wanting to keep everything classic and simple, I fell in love with these shoes and when I found out they were on sale, I snatched them up real quick.

Ivory. Peep toe. Simple. And gorgeous.  And I have over a year to break them in to make them comfy and not slippery on the bottom!

xoxo,
barbie

Welcome!

Kyle and I are FINALLY getting married!!  Rather than starting a typical, normal, wedding website... we have decided to create a blog to chronicle the planning process.  Since all of our family is SO far away in Virginia we thought this would be a great way to keep people up to date on decisions that need to be made and that have been made.  ...Of course, we will keep secrets from everyone!

Please check out all the tabs above to answer questions about lodging, the bridal party and most importantly, the engagement! 

We're excited to share this adventure with you!!

xoxo,
barbie & kyle

three things thursday.

last thursday of 2010. Where did the year go?! 

Random statement: I am doing REALLY bad at getting those 8 miles in... I may do 4 later tonight and then 4 tomorrow.  I really want to land on 600 but goodnight I have been mentally and physically exhausted from all my travels and work.

1. as of last week my bridal party was complete.  I have a maid of honor. A matron of honor. And 4 bridesmaids. Kyle has a best man and 3 groomsmen.  My maid of honor keeps offering to become a groomswoman to even out the sides since she likes Kyle so much... I think if we weren't such traditionalists we would let her flip to Kyle's side but yeah in reality, that won't happen.  Sorry E.

2. a week or so ago i ordered my wedding shoes. the shoes that i plan on wearing with my dress on the day i get married. don't ask me what prompted me to purchase said shoes and no i do not have a dress just yet (nor have i tried any on)... but i knew i wanted to have my shoes prior to my dress shopping and i saw these and loved them since they're just simple and they were on said for $45.00.  Sold... to the girl getting married in 400+ days.   Aren't they pretty (they're prettier in person). :o)  AND I am thinking about making my bridesmaids and maid of honor and matron of honor have matching ones... but in navy. 

3.  Kyle got me a wii for Christmas (wahoo) and I have turned into an excitable little child.  However, the wii makes me a whole new person.  In one wii session this week I tripped Kyle, pushed him twice, and kicked him in the knee.  Each time he asked me "who are you" .... then the next night I started crying because I could not make my person cycle right.  I blame the tears on exhaustion though.  Kyle is without a doubt wondering if the wii was a bad idea.  I however, l-o-v-e it and appear to be a wii master when kyle is not around, but if we're playing together i am horrible.  mulligan hates the thing and likes to jump on us while we play.  Gamestop has buy 2 used games get one free and well, I got 3 new games already.  I really want a dance game though. like really bad. 

Happy New Year!! I hope you have a happy and safe New Years! =)

three things thursday.

hi there! sometimes when thursday morning hits i wonder where the week went... but then i remember tomorrow = friday so the weekend is around the corner and i rejoice in it being thursday. :o) 

in common tradition, here are my 3 things for thursday.

{one} last Thursday we learned about a little shake up on the loveliest of the plains (that is auburn university for you non-southerners) dealing with their golden child Cam Newton.  I will say that I hope he is not suspended or whatever because I would like for Alabama to beat Auburn fair and square and I really cannot handle hearing "you only won because our QB was out" for a whole year (sounds like Texas).  but I will say the auburn people are a little sensitive around this matter, but when bama was being investigated about the textbook scandal they were quick to make their witty comments. So when I said "can the NCAA investigate? Yes the CAM" ... it was made as a joke but man did I get attacked. But I am a firm believer that if Alabama came under the same scrutiny over how lets say Ingram or Julio were recruited they would be quick to make sassy comments too.  So basically, if you can't take the heat... stay out of the kitchen. Oh well. Football in the south is a heated matter. but anyway. at this point it is just a rumor. we do not know how much truth is behind the accusations. but really, can cam just go pro after this year? he is kinda good and auburn would be nothing without him.
{two} on the day that i got engaged my friend karly from back home in DC texted me and told me that our mutual friend Amanda (aka Brady) had died in a really bad boating accident on the Rappahannock River (story here). The timing of finding out was kinda unfortunate, but I immediately began thinking about her family, her fiance, and Karly. Brady was part of our REALLY close knit "Logan's Roadhouse Family" and we spent the summers on Karly's boat, going to concerts, working together, and we would always meet up in Knoxville for fun weekends.  Kyle and I didn't trek back up for the funeral but our Logan's co-workers that went said it was a packed church.  Brady passed 4 weeks before her wedding and her family had her buried in her wedding dress.  There is a really popular country song on the radio right now by The Band Perry called "If I Die Young" and they played it at her funeral... I cannot hear the song without crying or getting really sad... and by her facebook wall it appears that I am not the only one.  I feel like that song is now played every hour on the hour and I am kind of ready for the band to release a new single... granted the band and radio have no idea about the feelings around the song, but i feel like it's about time... isn't 5 months too long to have just 1 single out?!
{three} over a quick lunch and pizza i gained another bridesmaid yesterday. crazy Chrissy who will byot (bring your own tequila) is the 2nd bridesmaid of the beautiful group of gals i have selected to be in my bridal party. so the count is officially at: 1 maid of honor, 2 bridesmaids ... 3 more bridesmaids to ask and the bridal party is official.  with the addition of Chrissy it appears that my bridal party is pretty much out of control, crazy wild and intensely awesome. Chrissy could be one of my favorite people in the world and i feel like our actions and phone calls should be recorded and rated on a scale from 1-10 on absurdity. 

....it seems that i do EVERYTHING over food. I have grabbed 2 bridesmaids & a maid of honor over food and have exciting meetings over grub. man i guess it is good that i run because atlanta has some AWESOME places to eat. and with that. i am on to start my Thursday. Have a great day! =)

T-cubed. Three Things Thursday.

Heather & Me in Tuscaloosa!

 1. I am a firm believer that all things happen for a reason. I had been trying to figure out for awhile now how I was going to ask my good friend from college, Heather, how to be a bridesmaid in our wedding.  I really wanted to ask her in person and well, she lives in Memphis and works for a crazy sports agent who basically never lets her off work so I had basically come to the conclusion that I was going to have to ask her over the phone. When I heard she was going to Chicago this past weekend and had a 3 hour layover in the Atlanta Airport on her way back to Memphis, I was like "oh oh oh I am coming to see you - we can do dinner" ... so her and I (and her mom) had dinner Sunday in the Atlanta airport and I asked her to be a bridesmaid. ...she said yes... and we were/are both so excited and thrilled.  Her and I have so many funny and amazing memories from Tuscaloosa and she has been more than excited from day one about this wedding planning stuff.  Now Jimmy has to let her off work - I hope 500+ days is enough notice.  I would like to thank Michael Orr for sharing his free AirTran tickets with Heather. Without him and his generosity this past Sunday never would have happened.

2.  Yesterday as I was pulling out of my apartment complex to go to Walmart for a pizza I saw some dude wailing on his girlfriend.  I initially just thought "oh my god" and kept driving but then as I watched the play by play in my rear-view mirror I had to turn around to say something (since I hoped someone would stop for me if I was in her shoes) and ended up calling the Chamblee cops.  It made for an intense trip to Walmart full of 3 police officers, russian translators, and me and 2 other women who stopped having to give our statements.  Looking back - I would totally call the cops again on someone beating their girlfriend.  You just never know how it could play out if you didn't. I felt like a good samaritan for the day.  She ended up wanting to leave with him and not press charges.  I really hope she is okay...

3. Today is my last day of no sweets and only one diet coke per day.  I cannot believe I made it a whole 30 days with no cupcakes, cookies, brownies, candy etc and only 1 diet coke per day... my office used to joke that I sweat out diet coke.  I think I will totally stick to the only one diet coke per day and move to only one sweet per week.  But I a cannot wait to eat a monster cookie from corner bakery, a strawberry and cream cupcake from cami cakes, and a chocholate chip cookie from the cafe in my building.  Surprisingly, after I made it thru week 1, it really was not hard to stay away.  It didn't help that I had the support of Kyle and my whole office.

and there you have it kids. another edition of three things thursday. 1 more day to the weekend!  I hope you have something fun planned. =)

three things thursday.

and we're onto another thursday, almost friday, which means helllooo weekend (btw, how GREAT was the 3 day weekend). 2 more days till my 10 mile race at stone mountain. hi hills, i will appreciate you and the workout you will give me. =)


and onto 3 things thursday.


1. i have gone a whole week and a day without sweets. no cupcakes. no cookies. no nothing. at times it is brutal, but other times i am fine. right now, because i am thinking about it, i want a cookie. and while i am updating you on my 30day revolution... i am doing AWESOME with my 1 diet coke per day rule and horrible with my 1 chapter per day rule (chapters read.five.) clothes have gone to goodwill and i went to a girls on the run meeting & learned there was not too much i could do to help out. awesome. no sweets no sweets no sweets is the worst.
2. i always have the worst timing ever. i am drawn to 3 allure bridal dresses dress1, dress2, and dress3. all the dresses are so different and per my million google searches under $1000. there is a bridal store here in atlanta that is having an allure bridal dress sale September 24th & 25th all dresses on sale. s-a-l-e. Of course, I had to find out on such short notice and I am pretty sure my parents will be zillion miles away at the beach (and i want my mom there when i go dress shopping) and i will be in Nashville getting ready to run a half marathon. my timing is always so so so off, luckily kyle is optimistic Oliver and is telling me "there will be other sales" (and I plan on calling to ask, how often they have said sales). ....but, once i do settle on 1 dress - i plan on calling every store in atlanta that sells that line and price shopping.
3.saturday is going to be the longest day ever. i do not even want to think about it. i am running the singleton 10 miler with the Atlanta track club at 7 am (yay for forced long runs). Then Kyle and I are heading a hour south of the city to check out Hazelhurst House (or as Kyle calls it, The House of Hazelnuts...) and we hope that this is going to be THE wedding venue/location. And then we have the Alabama/Penn State game. roll tide roll i have a sneaky suspicion I am going to sleep like a baby saturday night....

another month gone

...and one month closer to marine corps. august was a month where i don't know what really happened and what didn't, it was kinda just a whirlwind and i never really knew what day it was (is it wednesday or Thursday? oh it's Tuesday... huh? <---that was me almost every week). in my personal/work life - we lost a recruiter, hired a recruiter, and maintained being super busy which lead to not a lot of time to escape the office for mid day runs. then there was the fact that i am getting married and we spent 1 whole saturday looking at venues and then another saturday morning looking at more. *whoever said being engaged was fun and blissful lied to you, it's stressful* Onto what you care about... miles ran = 31.79 ... not as bad as what I thought, but still not really where they need to be.

there really is not too much to report on the running front. i didn't run any races but i did start to run with my little man mulligan (my dog) and he is really enjoying it. he looks at me with sad eyes when i do not take him with me. once fall hits, we're gonna be best of buds.

I had a BRILLIANT idea the other day for marine corps. I am constantly amazed by what my garmin can do and i remembered that i can have a little auto running pal to compete against. WELL... I am gonna set my auto friend to a 14:00 minute pace and then "race him" ... so as I watch my pace/miles/time running on race day I can also take a peek at my little runner in my watch and see how much she is beating me (meaning pick up the pace) or how much i am beating her. ....hopefully i will always be beating her meaning i am on point to finish & beat the bridge. genius, true genius.

September starts my personal revolution challenge (post to come) and that is going to force me to get in workouts and it's gonna be SO hard to not eat the sweets. September also means crazy forced training. 9.11 = 10 mile run with the Atlanta Track Club and then 9.25 = half marathon in Nashville.