inspiration.

i am fresh out of inspiration for you. all i feel like i've been doing lately is working, homework, and editing photos. (although i did just get back from a really awesome 5 mile run. but other than it just being a really good run, it was nothing spectacular. just me, the sound of breath and the thumps of my feet hitting the pavement. i pushed myself though and i'm proud. :))

but today i found this:



tears... am i right?

this is why i love running. it changes people. and while i don't have an amazing 120 pound weight loss story, running has changed me too.

i'm happier. healthier.

i love it.

and the best part? you can do it too. all you have to do is put one foot in front of the other!

and a quote from the runners' world quote of the day e-mail the other day...


"Don't limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, you can achieve."
-- Mary Kay Ash, Founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc.


so, there. that's my inspirational story of the day.
happy almost-friday! :))

it's here! it's here!

fall, that is. autumn.
and it could quite possibly be my most favorite time of the year.
pretty leaves, crisp air, pumpkin patches & haunted houses, pumpkin pie, hot chocolate, colorful cardigans... oh, i'm so excited!
i'm also super excited that with fall comes wonderful running weather! i've only been waiting for this day since like may.

the photo above was taken last weekend when we were in small town, kentucky to photograph logan and jennifer's wedding! we got there early and after a quick run-down of the day with the groom we were starving! he informed us that the nearest restaurant was 10 miles away.... where, apparently, their town mascot is a bee. which was actually quite fitting for me and my mr. b.


we also pretty much loved this place:


the exhaust and hair connection.
for your convenience when your muffler goes out and you need your hair done.
gotta love small towns :)

jennifer and logan's wedding was beautiful and we're so thankful they allowed us to be a part of their special day.... be looking for a preview from their wedding on the blog this week!!! :)


fall makes me happy, weddings make me happy, and here's some other stuff that's been making me happy lately (aka more pieces from our art gallery...)

fresh sun flowers.
just something about a sunflower that is so happy!


little kosmo admiring the moon.


decorating bird houses for josh's nieces and nephew.


venti iced non-fat white mocha.
my favorite starbucks to start off my day!


fun photo shoots with good friends (and their extended family!)
and finding fun new locations you didn't even know where there.. like this sandy little beach-like area below....








thanks taylor, we had so much fun! this is just a teeny tiny little preview.. we have tons to edit! i'll post more soon :)

babies!

i spent the afternoon with mandy and baby avery on friday... unfortunately no new pictures (i know, i can't believe it either), but apparently after i spend hours holding a tiny sleeping baby, i'm in such a good mood that my boyfriend questions his sister as to if she gave me crack. baby crack, i guess. i love that little baby. even if she did sleep the whole entire time i was there.

and some other things.
like spending the day shopping with my momma.
putting little "spookies" all around the house for fall/halloween.
warm chocolate fudge brownies with a cold glass of milk.
and morning runs in the cool air that end with my baby boy greeting me with kisses.



so anyway.
i've been happy lately.
good things all around.
and much love.

happy fall!

POM Wonderful.

A few weeks ago, the nice folks at POM Wonderful contacted me and asked if I was interested in trying some of their 100% pure pomegranate juice. In case you were wondering, of course I said yes! Especially when they said all I had to do was try the juice and give them my honest opinion. I'd never had pomegranate juice before, so I thought why not!?

Plus, pomegranates are known for their antioxidants and Runner's World even recently tagged POM Wonderful as a good recovery drink! (something about something in it helping with inflammation..)

A few days later a case of 100% pure pomegranate juice showed up on my doorstep. My first impression was that the tiny little bottles they come in are SO CUTE! I would think something like that though, wouldn't I? Then I tasted it. The taste of it was a little tart and slightly bitter, kind of like cranberry or grape juice. It was different and I definitely liked it!

My favorite thing to do with it was make smoothies!


I mixed frozen strawberries, half a banana, a little bit of milk, some Equal (to taste), and an 8oz bottle of the POM Wonderful. I think the pomegranate juice is the secret ingredient that all of my strawberry smoothies have been missing! It added that extra little kick to create the perfect smoothie! DELICIOUS!

They have plenty of recipes to try out on their website. I think I will definitely be adding pomegranate juice to my grocery list from now on! Thank you, POM Wonderful!

Please note that I had the sincere pleasure of receiving a complementary case of POM Wonderful in exchange for a review about their product. The opinions expressed are fully mine and I was not paid to say I like this product.

Downtown Doubler 15k

Phew! The Downtown Doubler was probably one of the toughest races I've done, at least mentally. I really had no expectations going into it because there were so many variables leading up to it -- the fact that I haven't been really really training since May; the fact that the most I've run at one time since June was 7 miles, and I'm pretty sure that was only once... maybe twice; the fact that we were shooting a wedding 1.5 hours away in Kentucky the night before and I had no idea what time we'd be done or how much sleep I'd be able to get -- that I had no idea how it would turn out. But I've been wanting to do it since I heard about it over the summer so I went ahead and signed up! Even if I did wait until the very last day of "early registration" (Wednesday) to do so.

I was a little bit nervous. Half of me knew I could do it and the other half of me was all dude, why the heck did you sign up for a 9.3 mile race?! even if you CAN do it, that's still a crazy long distance that you haven't run in a really long time!!

But I think I'm in a new place now as a runner -- I've run a half marathon before, so it's no longer a question of if I can do it. I know I can do it. Now it's about pushing myself to become better and faster and stronger as a runner and to jump over those mental obstacles that seem to get in the way. So I paid my 35 dollars and no matter how much I have or have not been training or how much sleep I was or was not able to get the night before, I was going to run 9.3 miles on Sunday morning. (luckily, we were able to get home from the wedding at 10pm so I was able to get a decent amount of sleep.)

I met up at the start of the race with my "Twitter friends," some I'd met before and some I hadn't -- @mudd4goals, @MikeCampbellCFO, @robbenefiel, and @Sergeim105... and of course @ericathomas but she was working the registration table, not running! :( Several of my "non-Twitter" friends were running too, so I had several people there for motivation!

We soon lined up for the start of the race and off we went! I tried to break the race up into three 5k's. The first one was probably the hardest. The first 2 miles were pretty straight and boring with not much going on. My legs were heavy, probably from weight training on Friday and standing for several hours on Saturday to shoot the wedding. It was difficult to find my groove but once I got to around mile 3, some of the faster runners had already made the turn-around so I was able to see a lot of my friends which was pretty cool and helped a lot!





Miles 3-5 went by pretty quickly (I love it when that happens!) which was a relief after the first two miles, and I couldn't believe I was already at mile 6.

Two 5k's down, one to go.




Around mile 7 my knee was starting to kill me.



Miles 8 and 9 slowly ticked away and I was finally nearing the finish!

Apparently someone thought it would be fun to have the 30k finish line before the 15k finish line, so as I was coming upon the 30k finish I thought I was done, but.... nope.



Luckily, the 15k finish was just around the corner and I gunned it!



Overall, I have mixed feelings about this race... kind of like I did before the race. On one hand, I'm just happy to have finished the race feeling good (besides my knees), since even though I knew I could finish the race, I wasn't sure how easy it would be. On the other hand, I wish I would have pushed myself harder. Of course, I'm not sure how much harder I could have pushed because my legs were sore and my knees were killing, but after I sprinted to the finish I felt like I had more left. Hate it when that happens.

Oh well.

It was a good morning for a race and great to have so many of my friends running it too!




And the support of my Coach and my momma (not pictured!) Love you guys!!

Stats:

Downtown Doubler 15k
September 19, 2010

Distance: 9.3 miles

Time: 1:42:10

panic attack.

i just registered for my september race.
the downtown doubler 15k.
which takes place this sunday.
i really have no idea why, but for some reason it just has me so nervous.
i think it's because i haven't run more than 7 miles at a time since before june.
so a 9.3 mile race seems like a really big one.
plus we are photographing a wedding on saturday night a couple hours away, so who knows what time i'll actually be able to go to bed.
i think that's the biggest thing.
cause it starts at 7:30am!!!!!!
but -- i love races.
and i'm supposed to run 9 miles for my long run this weekend anyway.
so, we'll see how it goes.
luckily it's a 15k OR a 30k, so some people will be running the loop twice which means i definitely won't be the last one finished :)
plus a lot of my twitter friends will be there!
and i feel better already just writing about it.
i know i can do it.
yeah!

other than that, half marathon training round 2 has been going pretty well. i've been doing my speed work with josh which has helped a TON! he pushes me to go faster than i'd go alone and encourages me when i get tired. last night i had to do 2x1200m and 3x800m intervals. the first two .75 repeats were killer and after my first half mile interval i was pretty much done. it was hot, i was exhausted, and my legs were heavy from doing weights the day before. but he pushed me and i got it all done! felt great afterwards too! (thanks coach!!!)

here's to hoping this weekend goes well.
happy hump day!

life as art (the beauty of a normal day)

In perusing the internets the other day, I stumbled across this quote...

"Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day, I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return."

....this is why I reflect as often as possible... through writing, through pictures, through just trying to enjoy it and take it all in... the beauty of all that is ordinary... it's so easy to worry about tomorrow and all things that need to be accomplished, but today is beautiful and I don't want to miss a thing.

And because I love a good quote:

"Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art; to bring all our energies to each encounter, to remain flexible enough to notice and admit when what we expected to happen did not happen. We need to remember that we are created creative and can invent new scenarios as frequently as they are needed."

I love that thought. Life as art. Life as an adventure. And even though things may not always go the way we hoped they would, it's still in our power to create a wonderful outcome.

And so with that, if we had a gallery, we would exhibit pieces of our life this past week. Slices of wonderfulness.


Life as Art: An Exhibit of our Week...

The Art of Our New Baby Doves.





The Art of Momma-Birdin'.


We have started eyeing each other like the momma bird does -- with one BIG eye -- and coined the term momma-birdin'. I can't believe we've actually turned that into a verb, but that's what we do. And we may or may not frequently say, "I'm momma-birdin' you!"... to each other and to the dogs.


The Art of A Rainy Day.


love it.


The Art of A Huge Spider Web.


I know it's over-exposed, but I wanted it to be seen. Seriously, look at that thing. Actually, there are 2 if you look closely.. another one in the upper right corner.


The Art of Decorating For Fall.




I went shopping with Josh's mom the other day for some pretty fall decorations. I'm learning that interior design is definitely not my forte, but I like making things pretty and trying to create a "home" (as opposed to just a pretty house) that reflects the people who live there. Not to mention I am beyond excited about fall so even though it's 90 degrees outside, there are still a few fall decorations up because I just can't wait! :)


The Art of Puppy Love.





The Art of An Evening Neighborhood Walk.





And a little dog walking a big dog.


...and our gallery will continue to grow. Bringing all our energies to each encounter and creating our own outcomes.

Life as art. Painting it beautifully.