Pat is an IRON MAN!!!

Yesterday Josh's friend Pat participated in the Iron Man competition in Louisville... in case you don't know, that's...

2.4 mile swim

122 mile bike ride

26.2 mile run {a marathon!}

140.6 miles total, or in other words = CRAZY!!!

And he did it all with a busted shoulder! So he had to do the entire swim one-handed. Basically, what I'm trying to say is Pat rocks and therefore we had to be there to support him!

I was only there for the transition from swim to bike... but Pat rocked it! He finished the whole thing in 12 hours and something. Which is AWESOME! It was pretty inspiring being there and seeing all the competitors who had worked so hard to get there. Especially a blind guy... he was tethered to someone during the swim, and they had a tandem bike. And there were some elderly people competing.. I think I heard one guy was in his 70's. Gives me lots of inspiration to train & not give up on the 10k {which is only 6 miles...} coming up in November!

Congratulations, Pat! You're an IRON MAN!!!

"He's like a sasquatch... or an elephant!"

On Saturday evening {after our run} I went to B-Dubs with Josh and some of his friends to watch the UFC.

The blurry polaroid above is the only picture I have to show from the night, but it was a great time!

We were there with Josh's neighbors, Brian and Nikki, and one of their friends who was so quiet I don't even remember his name. And then there was another couple there - Adam & Tiffany - and one of Josh's friends that he works with named Dustin.

At one point Josh and I left to run {literally} across the street to Starbucks. Unfortunately, they had just closed. But luckily, there's also a Starbucks in the Bass Pro Shop, so we called to make sure they were still open and ran over there really quick. Actually, we drove this time. When we got back, everyone had informed us that they had planned a trip to Rome while we were gone and that we are all going in February. They might have been joking, but they seemed pretty serious & brought it back up a few times! haha! I would be totally game for going! I can already tell, after meeting these people just once, that a trip to Europe with them would be a pretty great time!

Josh's friends are hilarious and I had so much fun with them!! :)

"He's like a sasquatch... or an elephant! He's just BIG!" - Brian, describing one of the UFC fighters that he doesn't like.

a doggy playdate...

on friday evening, josh and i took tobey and kosmo on a doggy playdate at the park. we figured since they had never met, the park would be good neutral ground for them to first meet. to my surprise, tobey was very well-mannered when he met kosmo! he didn't even bark at him like he usually does with other dogs! we took them on a little hike through the swamp park and i think they had a great time! afterwards, kosmo stopped by our house to meet my mom and played with tobey a little bit more.. and hit on tobey's girlfriend, gracie. i don't think tobey appreciated that too much, but he's happy to have a new friend! =]

after that josh and i went out for steak at longhorn and then back to his house for a little wii tennis.... i'm much better at wii bowling.

the rest of the weekend was fabulous! i'll share soon... =]

*picture taken on blackberry... sorry for the poor quality

today i introduced josh to the golden twist.

... it was our reward after a 4.2 mile run/walk {me} and 11 mile run {him - yeah, he's crazy}

today marks the first "official" day of my training for a 5k.. my goal is to be able to do a race in october or november! wish me luck.. =)

Man, the music was kind of loud in the bathrooms.

I had so much fun tonight!! After doing group power & yoga, I met up with Josh & some of the fitness instructors for dinner at Ruby Tuesday. Have I mentioned that I love their salad bar?! It's pretty much the best salad bar ever. With the best croutons in the whole entire world!

It was great to hang out with some of my new "gym friends" outside of the gym. We had a great time! I'm honored to be enough of a "team member" to participate in the team dinners now :)

GO TEAM!!!!

Meet me at the fair...

I love everything about the fair..
the rides
the food
the games
the animals
the colors
the atmosphere
...it's just a good time!

Last night Josh and I went to the fair.
I remember everything being bigger when I was little.
But it was still so much fun!! :)

{except this one ride that took you totally upside down...I don't remember fair rides being safe enough that I'd want to trust them with my life and allow them to completely hang me upside down over concrete.. but we made it out alive!}

so, we made friends with this horse behind us. he was so cute!

Josh had never been on a ferris wheel before.. can you believe that!?
So of course we had to ride it!

All that ferris wheel excitement really worked up our appetites..

I'm pretty sure this is the dinner of champions.

Then we rode the swings...
The guy working the swings was telling us about "the first time he got out of prison..."
now I wonder why people bring their children to the fair! ha :-/
he was a nice enough guy though... for a felon.

Josh squeezed into the baby seat so we could sit by eachother. hahaha

then we went down the Fun Slide & listened to a little bit of the Gary Allen concert on the way back to the car.

and now, it's just starting to feel like summer, even though school started yesterday.

Goodbye, fair.... until next year :)

A Night on 4th Street

last night Josh and I went to 4th Street Live
to see the Blue October & Switchfoot concert.
I had cajun food for the first time at J. Gumbo's...
it was delicious!
we also stopped in a neat little piano bar
called Howl at the Moon...
and got our picture taken with Jack Daniels.. haha

It was a fun night! =)

Bats vs. Indians

Last night my new friend Josh and I went to the Bats game.

There was a 30% chance of rain at 7:00 {when the game started} and it jumped up to 50% by 8:00...

we were there until 10, and it never rained =)

we had the best seats ever... 3rd row right behind home plate.


and Buddy the Bat stood right next to us almost the whole time.

it was so much fun!

Unfortunately, the Bats lost to the Indians, 4-6... but we still had a great time!

school. workouts. cameras. and stuff.

i'm doing much better since my last post =) these last few days have really taken a turn for the better! {hopefully i'll be able to write about that soon}

in other news..

*this looks really good right about now.

but instead, i'm gearing up for school... which starts next week. i'm such a procrastinator.. i don't even have school supplies or anything yet. ha. i had some good news with school though; it turns out i don't need one class i thought i needed since i think they are going to count my A&P class for it. i'm just waiting for confirmation. and then another class i needed was full, but i just got myself enrolled in it this morning in the 1 open spot that came available! woohoo!

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i've been working out like crazy lately! i love it though =) yesterday i got up at 4:45 again and went to spinning from 5:30-6:30 and then did yoga in the evening. today i got up and went to the group power {weight lifting} class at 5:30, and i'm going to do yoga tonight. i'll probably repeat this schedule tomorrow & thursday.

so, basically here is my workout schedule if anyone would like to come to the gym & join me! you totally should, it's so much fun! i can bring you as my guest 4 times if anyone wants to try it out =)

monday: 5:30-6:30am spinning; 7:30-8:30pm yoga
tuesday: 5:30-6:30am group power; 6:30-7:30pm yoga
wednesday: 5:30-6:30am spinning; 7:30-8:30 yoga
thursday: 5:30-6:30am group power; some type of cardio {i usually go for a run either at the park or on the elliptical}
friday: off
saturday: 10:55-11:55am group power; noon-1 yoga
sunday: noon-1 yoga

i've just started incorporating these morning workouts into my schedule this week.. and so far, besides the actually getting out of bed at 4:45am, i love it! it's nice to have it already done so i don't have to stay at the gym as long in the evening, and it wakes me up and makes me feel a little accomplished to start off my day.. and trust me, at 7am that's a great feeling! =)

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since my last waterproof digital camera got STOLEN {i'm still a little bitter} i'm going to start saving up for a new one. i think this one is the lucky winner. i've been super happy with my canon DSLR, and i was also super happy with my underwater olympus, but it takes a different memory card so i might as well just get a canon now that they have a waterproof camera and that way i can use the same type of memory card for both of my cameras. i miss being able to stuff a camera in my purse to have at all times and take videos.. those are the main reasons i still want a point & shoot even though i LOOOVE my DSLR =)

hopefully i can get him soon, he's so cute =)

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there are still a few things that i'm kind of worried about, but overall God is showing me that he does answer prayers and that things always work out.

well, that's a little update. more soon!

*photo was taken by me last may 2008 on the beach in mexico

life is beautiful.

today was not so much of a good day.
actually... i feel like lately that's how it's been going.
1 step forward, 2 steps back.
i just feel like i can't catch a break.
but even in the bad times, i know i have so much to be grateful for.
i just have to remind myself & work a little harder to see it.
but really, it's not that hard if i just stop, breathe, & open my eyes.
just as a reminder for moi, here are a few things that make me happy & thankful

...

my mom and our awesome relationship.. how she's the one person who really gets me
good morning kisses from tobey & his barks welcoming me home every day
homemade milkshakes & smoothies
good friends who are always there for me, no matter how many miles away they are
a good workout
fresh flowers in the kitchen
the smell of rain
letters in the snail mail
talking to my brothers on the phone
the wind in my air
watching mia dance & laugh & learn about life
playing in the ocean
the unconditional love & loyalty of a dog
making new friends
watching movies during rainy days
texts that make me smile
the start of a new season
people i can be totally myself around, un-guarded
sunrises & sunsets
memories of my daddy
catching up with old friends
strangers who smile
tire swings hanging from a tree
receiving a genuine compliment
laughing until i can't breathe
iced coffee
inside jokes
brick walls inside of buildings
traveling/roadtrips
polaroid cameras & old school photo booths
saving movie ticket stubs
fresh fruit
fresh clean sheets
sleeping with the windows open
building a sandcastle or making a snow angel
sweet, sweet, sweet tea
big porches & porch swings
the smell of someone i love, freshly baked food, or fires burning on cold winter days
watching the ducks cross 4 lanes of traffic.. makes me smile every time =)

...

I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing. ~Agatha Christie

faq #1: camera info

I'm going to start posting the answers to questions I get asked a lot... there are just a few because I'm not that interesting, but I'm going to go ahead and answer them here anyway that way I don't have to keep answering them every time someone asks me =) So here's the first installment of my future little "FAQ" series. If you have a question feel free to e-mail me {address is to the left} or leave your question in the comments =)

I probably get asked most about my camera so we'll start there.....

Q: WHAT TYPE OF CAMERA(S) DO YOU USE/LIKE?

A:

I'm going to assume you all mean the "nice" one that takes the "good" pictures. It's a Canon Rebel XS. I'd been wanting to take the plunge into DSLR photography for awhile & finally did back in June.. but I'm inexperienced and cheap so I went with the {in my opinion} best camera for a beginner, and one of the "cheapest" {but I still almost had a heart attack when I purchased it...}

DSLR photography is not a cheap hobby. The lenses are rather expensive {most are more than I actually paid for my camera!} and it takes a lot of patience & practice to really understand it & get good at it. I still have soooo much to learn, but I love it and I'm so glad I finally decided to do it! I have no complaints so far with this camera!!! I will probably have it until my experience & photography knowledge exceeds this camera's capabilities, or I have enough money for a better one.... which, honestly, I think that lenses are more important than the actual camera body, so I think I'll probably spend my money on more lenses before I get a new camera.

As far as lenses go, so far my favorite lens for every day photography is the 50mm f1.8 lens. It was recommended to me by several people and I see why! I have it on my camera about 95% of the time. It's a fabulous little lens and budget friendly.. you can get it for around $120... which as I said before is a great price considering most lenses are way more than that and it takes great pictures!

That said, I did have another love...

The underwater pictures on the blog were taken with an Olympus Stylus SW850 {in pink}. {before it got stolen} I'm currently saving up to get another one. If you want a camera that's tough {can be dropped & not break} and waterproof, I highly recommend it. It was awesome & I loved it! Bonus - it also took videos & I thought underwater videos were super cool! {but maybe that's just me}

I also really love the Polaroid OneStep 600 series =)

Q: WHAT DO YOU USE FOR PHOTO EDITING?

A: I just got Adobe Creative Suite 4 {which includes Photoshop} but I haven't really learned how to use it yet.. so I only do minor stuff with it so far. I also have Paint Shop Pro 7, which I've had since about 7th grade {I don't even know if they still sell it}, that I still use and love... mostly because it's pretty time consuming to try and learn a whole new program and obviously I've had lots of practice with that one. I also have the photo editing software that came with my camera, and I like to play around with Picnik and Picasa.

....I think that addresses most of what I use for my pictures! Hope that answers your questions =) more to come soon...

Cupcake Butt

Hi everyone! Mia just wanted to pop & wave "hi!" She's been waving at everything lately... it's so adorable! Every time I go in and get her from her nap, she waves. She climbs onto the first stair of the stairway and waves. She waves while she's playing on the floor, and she waves from her high chair. She waves all the time. Cutest thing ever.

Also the cutest thing ever? Her cute little cupcake butt.

I found these adorable pants this morning. They might be pajama pants, I don't know. But it doesn't really matter since we are just having a lounge day around Mia's house since her mommy is on a little business trip. I thought they were so stinkin' cute!

Also, isn't it cute how babies are curious & get into just about everything?

And then when they make a mess by dragging out all of the videos from the cabinet they just look at you like, "Who me?"

But they're so cute so you can't stay mad at them!

Well, I think the cute little cupcake butt is waking up from her nap...

Hope everyone is enjoying your Thursday!!! Find something cute today that makes you smile! =)

i don't know if this will become routine or not, but i liked it.

hello & good morning!

i know of at least a couple of people who read my blog that are interested in my work out routine & progress, & since i haven't written about it in awhile here's a little update for ya...

the picture to the right is what i look like at 6:45am after an hour long spinning class. HAWT i know.

anywho... it's not even 7:00 am yet and i've already worked out for an hour! no, this is not normal for me. usually i am good & asleep until at least 7:30, and that's only on days i have to be somewhere. otherwise you can safely add at least another hour and a half to that. i think that's the first time i've ever actually gotten up that early {4:45} and exercised. i can't believe i actually got myself up & out of bed at that hour, let alone dressed & out of the house. but i'm proud of myself for doing it! so anyway, i went to the spinning class from 5:30-6:30.

i liked the class, but i'm not gonna lie... after last night {i did spinning last night, too} i feel like someone gave me a swift kick in the butt. i think i'll hold off on going back to spinning for a couple days! =)

this week has been really good as far as exercising goes so far.... on monday i ran {which is really more like jogging} 5.5 miles {and yes, i did walk some of it, but the point is i went that far}, which was definitely the first time i've actually done that.... last night {tuesday} was my first spinning experience. well, that's not true... but it was the first one that i actually liked. i went once back in june sometime but for some reason this time it was completely different. then i did yoga right afterwards.. first time i've ever done 2 classes back to back. i actually liked it so much better after being already warmed up from spin class {& i ♥ yoga anyway.. crazy that spinning made me like it more!}

anyway... tonight i am planning on going to the group power class for the 1st time {weight training} and then yoga afterwards. i'm kicking my butt into shape!

{more wedding fun}

i know i already wrote a post about heather's wedding this weekend, but i seriously had such a fun time this weekend with my girls! sometimes i think the drama created by sororities is so silly, but it's also awesome when there is good sisterhood! yes, being in a sorority does add drama to your life, but it also adds a bunch of girls who are always there for you. once we are all reunited it is like no time has gone by at all! one of my favorite parts of heather's wedding was being reunited with the herd of black... we always wear black to a sorority sister's wedding. do other sororites do that? it's because we are "mourning the loss of a sister" as she goes off to be with her husband. kind of silly, i know. i wonder who came up with that... wearing black in the summertime is not fun.

anyway... here are some more pictures from the weekend that i stole off of facebook..

{me & alex putting our feet on molly because she hates feet... sisterly love right there}

HIGH ROLLAS! us and our hummer limo at the after party @ lynn's paradise cafe {the place of my 23rd birthday dinner}... haha i wish!