Deborah's Wedding - Race to the Altar

The day of Deborah's wedding a couple of her friends put on a 5k "Race to the Altar".  It's become a tradition when one of them gets married.  It was felt great to get some exercise in on the day of the wedding.  We had brunch afterward and there were awards.  It was a great start to a wonderful day!

 OBU girls before the race.

 Race director Natalie.

 Race participants!

 Welch girls.  Yes, we parked at Hooters.

 Deborah & Tina.

 The real runners at the finish.

 Kate & I were walking buddies.

The bride won!  With her two race directors - Natalie & Alisha.

30 (or 20) before 30

So, I've seen this idea on other people's blogs, and I love the idea.  I started a list of things I want to do before I turn 30 next year.  A lot of the lists I've seen are 30 before 30, but I couldn't come up with quite that might many.  And some of these are kind of cheating because I know that I'm going to do them already. :)

1.  Stick with eating healthy and get to my goal weight.
2.  Run at least one half marathon.
3.  Take a class and learn to use my camera on manual mode.
4.  Go camping (it's been so long!)
5.  Go wine tasting...preferably in the wine country.
6.  Paint pottery
7.  Throw more dinner parties.
8.  Get Mama's piano tuned and start playing again.
9.  Make my own peanut butter.
10.  Make fruit rollups from scratch.
11.  Finish sewing a piece of clothing for myself.
12.  Go on all my student ministries events, including ski trip, because it's the girls senior year.
13.  Stand by my sister as maid of honor while she gets married (blog post to come).
14.  Make an awning for the back patio.
15.  Paint the one hallway in the house...it's the only thing that's still white.
16.  Find an antique phone in a fun color for the phone nook in the said hallway.  I see to only be able to find them in black.
17.  Get settled in my new job (yeah, I haven't blogged about that) and build into relationships at work.
18.  Go the beach and not get sunburned (next week!!!).
19.  Make a fancy looking cake that actually looks good. (Maybe this one).
20.  Get my sewing room/office organized.

Rebekah's Birthday

Over a month ago I spent the day celebrating my little sister's birthday.  This is what she wanted to do:

Yes, we ran a half marathon for her birthday. The Big D Half.  It was great...for the first half anyway.  I ran with Rebekah and her friend Bre. Then around mile 6 I started feeling sick.  It was about 85 degrees at that point - way hotter than I like to run in.  I did actually finish - even if I did have to walk a ton the second half.  After the race, we went to Breadwinners with Rebekah's friends.  Overall it was a great day.  Happy 25th Rebekah!

 Bre, Rebekah and me at the finish.

Sisters!

The girls in front of Breadwinners

 Me, Rebekah & Rachel

Me & Brooke - Her & Rebekah have been friends since middle school.  We love her!

Weekend Happenings...

So, I had another busy weekend.  But it was packed full of good things.

• Friday night with three of the four Sherman's.  We loaded up the kids and took them to Jeff's baseball game. I took a ton of pictures, you can see more of them here.  There's a ton of Harper making some pretty funny faces!

 How does she have two kids?!? It's just crazy!

 Me with the precious kiddos...I want to steal little bubble mouth!

 Precious Brody.  He's the sweetest little baby ever!  Especially in his team gear supporting his daddy!

 Oh sweet Harper.  Up and down and all around in the four innings we stayed for!

• Eleven miles at White Rock on Saturday morning - race in two weeks!
• Grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry, and cooking for a dinner party. Productive Saturday afternoon.
• Dinner party with good friends Saturday night.  I tried two new recipes, both of which seemed to be big hits.  Baked Pasta with Chicken Sausage and Caramelized Onion and Rosemary Rolls.  We also played some telephone/pictionary...always a hit!
• We also watched a little of this video and really laughed hard at the Watermark Student Ministries parody of it.
• Church and Shoreline and working in the yard on Saturday.  I cleaned out and planted three bushes and some flowers in the front flower bed.  Here's the finished product.  It was really overcast, so the picture didn't turn out great.

Turkey Stuffed Zucchini

I had a super productive weekend.  I ran 10 miles on Saturday, worked in the yard, spent some good time with friends (some of it on a patio), grocery shopped, and I cooked. I made this great recipe to eat on all week. I happened upon this blog this week. When looking through the recipes I happened on this one, which involves zucchini, which is one of my favorite vegetables!  So, here's a few pictures of the process.  If you like zucchini, you should totally try it!

Catching Up

Wow - it's been a long time since I've posted.  I think we'll go bullet point for a little catch up session.

• I watched the Super Bowl with the college roommates, their husbands and children.  Really, I spent more time walking around with sweet Harper than I did actually watching the Super Bowl or commercials, but it was fun all the same. 

Isn't she precious?!

I hung out with this guy a little too...he's such an adorable little chunk!

• I ran a 5K with Jen, Shawn, and Vicky.  It was a fun, really early, and cold Saturday morning.  The race raised money for IJM, so at the very least we did it for a good cause.

• I've been doing a lot of running.  I'm training for the Big D Half Marathon - I'm going to run it with Rebekah and one of her college friends.  I've also been keeping up with my New Year's goal of Body Pump twice a week...I really love it actually.
• This week was the two year anniversary of Wanda being gone.  Crazy.  In some ways it feels like it was yesterday.
• This coming weekend is also the anniversary of home ownership for me...I closed on the 11th.  Looking at this picture - oh how I love how my house looks with green leaves on the trees.  But those same trees have been wreaking havoc on my life since the fall...dropping leaves all the time.  Non stop. So many of them.
• And I cooked these Spinach Feta Turkey Burgers this week and they are awesome. You should try them.

Weekend in Bullets

• This weekend was wonderful and great and I wasn't ready for it to end.
• The temperatures were in the 60's and 70's...could not have asked for better weather.
• Went to an event on Friday night and learned some more about sex trafficking.  I also watched a CNN special called Selling the Girl Next Door last week.  I'm completely floored by all of this.  Even though I've heard, even though my dad is working with it all the time, there's something about it that just kind of slapped me in the face last week.  I want to do something.  I'm starting to think and pray about how I might get involved here in Dallas.
• I walked 9 miles around White Rock with Shawn Saturday morning.  We didn't set out to go that far, but the weather was almost too perfect not too.  
• I got a hair cut.  A much needed hair cut.
• I read for fun.  One of my favorite things.
• I celebrated Charlie's 30th birthday with great friends.  Pictures to come, but it was a special time celebrating a wonderful friend.  
• I went on a run in my neighborhood Sunday morning.  I'm kicking it into training mode again to see if I can handle busy season and training in order to run the Big D half with my sister on her birthday.  Busy season isn't really busy yet, so I'm going to give it a few more weeks of training before I actually sign up.
• I got a ton of stuff accomplished around the house.  Changed air filters, packed up old dishes, grocery shopped for the week, and made chili in anticipation of the cold weather.
• And topped off the weekend with acoustic worship at Shoreline...always a favorite.
• Is it Friday yet? I'm ready for another weekend!

Goals for 2011

I don't usually do resolutions, but I decided that I do have a few goals for 2011. So here they are:

• Learn to use my camera on manual mode.  No more automatic!
• Use the envelope system for budgeting eating out, groceries and clothes shopping.
• Run at least one half marathon.
• Go to Body Pump (or do strength training) twice a week.
• Lose the last 30 pounds to get into the healthy BMI range.
• Eat healthy on a more consistent basis.
• Be "all in" for my last full calendar year with my small group girls.
• Bible study and journal consistently.

And last night at midnight I toasted to going on a date in 2011...that's not too much to ask, right? :)

What a Weekend

 Wow...it has been a busy weekend.  I have sewed, put up Christmas lights, raked a ton of leaves, tried a new restaurant with great friends for dinner last night, ran a half marathon, bagged up all the leaves (9 thirty gallon bags...just for the front yard), and went to a fun Christmas party.  And my goodness am I tired.  I did actually get dressed in something other than yard working/ running clothes for dinner last night and for the party tonight, so I actually have outfit pictures.  Only three more days!

25/30: Thankful Thursday

Thanksgiving Edition. In pictures.  I'm thankful for this whole day and all I'm so privileged to be a part of!

 Dad & Eddy celebrating Tina's 50th at the Turkey Trot.  It was 20 degrees.  And yes, dad's hat says "Tina is Old".  He opted for that over a t-shirt.

 Birthday girl and her oldest!

 Mom and her homedog, Angela

 Sauer and Welch girls! (Michelle, Angela, Deborah, Donelle, Rebekah, me, & Valerie)

 Dressing - my favorite!

 Deb - making delicious sweet potatoes.

 Dessert

 Sisters

Pretty.

And the outfit.  The boots were only on for pictures, but you know.  :)

9/30: Pain in the...

...feet!  I got new running shoes in the mail this weekend. I went to the gym last night to start breaking them in.  OH MY STARS!  My feet have never hurt so bad in running shoes.  Ever.  They are the exact same shoes I've always run in...probably my 6th or 7th pair of them, just the new model.  I think there's something different.  Ouch!  I'm going to keep trying, but I don't know if these are going to last.

And outfit #2.  Welcome to my backyard...it's a jungle. Still feel awkward taking pictures of myself.  I should probably pay more attention to how other people pose when they take their outfit pictures...seeing as how they don't end up with the awkward claw that I did in this picture.  And also, don't worry.  A spreadsheet is being made to make sure I don't double-wear outfits.  I know if you know me you aren't surprised!

Nike Women's Half Marathon

We did it!  A couple of weekends ago, my sister Rebekah and I finished the Nike Women's Half Marathon.  The trip to San Francisco was most definitely a fun one.  The parents came along and Deborah was working the race for Team in Training, so it was really a full family affair.  We had a great couple of days in the city before the race.  It was fun to shop, do a little sight seeing, eat great food and take in a new city. 

Family pic after dinner Friday night.

Deborah and her friend Natalie in the giant chair in our hotel lobby.

Saturday morning at the Embarcadero.

Foggy view of the Golden Gate bridge.

The run itself was awesome.  Hard, but awesome.  You can read Rebekah's race recap here.  She totally rocked it.  A great time and I know she felt good about it.  My time wasn't anything to be impressed with (never is, I'm slow and proud of it), but I finished, and that's what I set out to do.  I felt great for the first 6 miles (from Union Square, down to the water, through Fishermans Wharf and toward the Golden Gate bridge).  There were a few small hills, but it was mostly flat.  When you hit mile 6, it was like a whole different race course.  A solid mile of steep up hill, then a significant downhill (which was awesome), and it pretty much went on in the same up and down fashion until close to mile 10, where it levelled out for the most part.  I saw Deborah at mile 10.5.  I was feeling rough (some lovely stomach cramps), and I'm quite sure I looked it as well.  Apparently the sister has a picture from this time, but I haven't seen it yet.  Another mile and I started feeling a little better and finished the race strong after passing through the Ghirardelli mile at the 12 mile marker.  It really was a great race.  It was super scenic and there was always something going on all through the course.  I would definitely do it again if given the chance.

Rough morning before the race pictures.

The massive amount of people lined up that morning.  It took me 30 minutes to actually get to cross the starting line after the race started.

Me & Dad at the finish.

Me & Rebekah at the finish...I was cold...it was raining.

After the race I wasn't feeling so hot, but once I got some food in me I was MUCH better.  We walked around a good bit in the afternoon, and then had a wonderful dinner at a Greek restaurant.  It was a wonderful celebratory dinner!  We spent a couple of hours at the top of the Marriott soaking up our last views of San Francisco. (Deborah has pictures of that night as well, I believe.)  After a great breakfast, we headed back to the airport. (By the way...all the restaurants we went to while we were there...awesome...I highly recommend them all!)

I am so thankful for a fun family to travel with and parents who cheered us on. (Although, I think my dad will be running next time...he wasn't as much of a fan of the cheering as he is the running).Thanks Beks for wanting to do a half marathon...so glad to have number two under my belt.  Here comes White Rock in about a month for the third.  Yikes...I better get to running!

Charleston

I spent an extended Labor Day weekend in Charleston, SC with my family.  It was part of our Christmas from our parents, and it was definitely worth the wait.  We shopped, we walked, we ate, we walked some more, we took a carriage tour, we ate some more, we went to a plantation, went and walked along the beach, oh, and did I mention, we ate?! 

It really was a great trip. We stayed in a cute little condo up above the shopping area of town.  We went for good runs every morning.  And truly, we ate more good food, and far more calories than I have consumed in a while.  And every single bite was worth it.  Some of my favorites were Hank's seafood and brunch at High Cotton.

First stop: food!

And then, of course, some walking

Wonderful grouper from Hanks.

Views from the carriage tour...gorgeous city...really. And such fun history too.

I'm slightly obsessed with these "piazzas" on the sides of all the houses.  Do you think I can add one to mine?

The family out at the plantation.

The house was used in The Notebook.

Slave quarters.

Super cute parents.

Walking to the beach

We finished out the weekend with a drink on a rooftop...it was fantastic.  And a gorgeous view of the sunset.

Thanks Mom & Dad for a great trip!

For more pictures, a lot of them, go here.