(i am) hot to trot, jimmy ray, "safety inspectors" & vandalism

this post is short and sweet, but since i had some content and i am trying to be better about blogging - i'm putting it up. enjoy. 

i ran my first 10K on thanksgiving. go ME! i know, i know - i already did a half marathon and normally you would do a 10K THEN a half marathon, but i mixed it up. i'm just crazy like that.

the race was bright and early on thanksgiving morning

running a race on thanksgiving morning is brilliant, then you can pig out enjoy thanksgiving without feeling guilty.

me and a bunch of amys

jonathan took this action shot of me, i was
about to hit the finish line at 6.2 miles

i felt great the entire time and that was super good news because i haven't been the most consistent runner since the half marathon in october. BUT i have signed up for either a marathon or a half marathon in april so i will be back at it. 


a few sundays ago i ran in the buddy's race against cancer, i was on "team nancy" and it was an honor! nancy is amy m.'s (in the above photo, the first amy on the left) mom and she is on the winning side, she kicked cancer's behind!


here is the team shot...

obviously, i (middle row, second from the left)
wasn't ready for this one - but still we look cute!

me, kelly and amy with the sun sphere at the start line

and we have a new houseguest, jimmy ray is back! yippee! lottie sue is ALL BOUT him. we, like every parent that has an elf, wish he could stay all year long.

making his first appearance nestled in the cookbooks

the saturday night after thanksgiving we fried a turkey and had some peeps over. we had the fryer in the driveway and thought we had everything set up safely...but when the "safety inspectors" (aka, sam and mary ann - in costume i might add) arrived we were flagged for numerous violations. 

seems we were not far enough way from one of the cars here

mary ann flagged the propane tank while sam flagged a
barbie doll for being too close to said propane tank

mary ann spared no mercy

but the turkey turned out GREAT (thanks tommy and megan) and we had a great time! 

then after church on sunday we went over to granbunny's to decorate. and when i say decorate that means that judy tells me what to do because she is a decorating GENIUS. looks what she made for the top of the tree!

i mean, this is so gorgeous - gonna try to copy it somehow for our tree

lottie sue was very happy to help, she put the little birds in the tree

sweet girl, she loved helping out

well, now we come to the random part of the post. look! i taught myself how to knit via youtube! all i want to do is make dishcloths, it's fun to do while the boob tube is on. cold weather makes me want to be crafty. 

not bad for the first go-round
(and yes, that is a snuggie - don't be jealous!)

this is bailey and lottie sue, "sleeping" during a playdate last week

rowdyman got a haircut last week, he is great as long as you feed him m&ms

lottie hugging/choking rowdy the other day over at granbunny's

this is from pizza night a few weeks ago,
this is how megan shapes pizza crust

another shot of bailey and lottie, having more fun

lottie sue really likes pretending she is a "rocker girl" - she likes to dress punk dance and around with a microphone. 

oy! oy! oy!

and now, a few items for you...

• the l.a. times talks with woody allen (and a side note - this is one of my favorite pieces from allen, it's a short story - "the whore of mensa" - read it)
• not sure if you have noticed...BUT i love louis c.k. - maybe a little too much but i saw this and HAD to share: joan rivers gives advice to louis c.k.
• here's a list of the best cookbooks of 2011
• here is another list, this one is the best books of 2011
• this is for tommy: here's a list of the top metal albums of 2011
• pat head-summit has been named espn's sportswoman of the year

alrighty, i'm outta here. 


OH YEAH! sam wrote a story on daddy and bb and it's a two parter. the first part ran on sunday but you can read it here ("sam venable: strangest 'vandalism' on record") and part two comes out tomorrow in the paper. i will be sure to share it with you when it's posted. who loves a good mystery?

light the night, tailgating, halloween and a whole mess of other things

this post has so much in it, so many photos from a few months back. 

i volunteer with the leukemia and lymphoma society here in town and a few weeks ago was the big big big event, light the night. it funds research and supports those battling blood cancers. we had over 2,000 people show up and people raised somewhere around $150,000. i hate cancer. so very much. 

here are a few photos i took...

the weather was not looking good, but someone did the rain dance and it worked! bob kesling is our chair person this person this year and everything went so well. lori f. did a great job at running the show! congrats!


and a few weekends ago we hosted the ut vs. sc tailgate with the smiths and masons - we had a great time! matt made his famous chili and it was perfect, it was so cold. but i loved the cold weather, usually when we go to a game you sweat to death. yuck.

here i am with mrs. pierce

here is mrs. pierce with mr. pierce 

beth is rocking the ut snuggie 

the power T

then it was halloween...

me smooching dem bones

lottie sue as a sailor girl 

rowdyman as superman

this is matt's pumpkin

lottie sue's school had a ho down and matt and i went to enjoy in the fun. everyone dressed up like cowboys/cowgirls - lottie sue did a do-see-do and sang some songs. she's cute. i got up and played a fiddle for everyone (nope, never touched one before and it was very obvious). 

our cowgirl

and now let me get to the random part of the post. these are photos i found on my phone and on the camera. 

matt plays basketball with fellow dudes from our community group. they have't had the pleasure of winning a game yet, but they try.

i rooted for the team in blue

check out lottie sue's people, it's a little kit that has facial stickers (along with hair, jewelry, random items) that she can use to make up different faces. here are two of her creations.

and these pieces here and what she did in her art camp this summer. and i might have posted these already but i don't think i did. i've slept since then...

i can't remember what exercise this one was

this was line study

ugh, can't remember this one either

self portrait

i found this photo on the camera and thought it was pretty. these ingredients were on the table one night. we had people over and we all made our own pizzas. 

fresh

goodNESS

lottie sue picked this tomato from our plant

then she picked up ernie, please note that he was not amused

and then i found these! prime time summertime shots!

this was bb's birthday present from grandaddy

please click on this to look closer - i am WAY happy and lottie and bb are not

doing what she does best, ham it up

here is some silly fun with papaw, he is always down for goffiness with the kids and they love him for it.

one day kevin escaped and climbed up a tree he could not get out of it...typical. 

and oh yeah! carrie got married a few months ago and we had a small affair for her (aside from the other showers she had, the girl is loved). 

the delicious cake

frostimajik, p-dub, carrie and moi

and this is out friend nate, he makes the best guacomole. we missed it one weekend and everyone kept going on and on about it. he adds mango to it and it is sweet and delicious. we demanded he come over to out house to share the joy. 

oh my gosh, then i found these! lottie sue and i went to a mother/daughter tea at gettysview this summer and had a grand time! hats were required so you know i was down for that but it did me forever and day to find one that fit my big head. 

making friends

the cupcake she decorated

em, gabby, genevieve and lottie sue (she was in love)

and then i found these on my phone, we went out one night with the hussars, cases and one of the rumpsas. good times!

our friends own the happy envelope, they had a little soirée a few weeks back and it was a fab time. if you need holiday cards or any type of stationary give them a ring! you will be happy you did. 

the crowd

this was on a shelf, love it

here i am with my favorite

yeah....so then i saw these and cannot believe that i didn't blog about our le conte trip. it was so much fun and matt and i hadn't been up since before lottie sue was born. 

the adorable masons

a mary ann, megan and jenny totem pole

mary ann, megan and dipsey

we went up to the cliff tops after dinner, it was so cloudy up there but we took photos anyway. and it's probably best jo couldn't see that much, she would have left. 

the cute cases

tommy and his gun

john and amanda

then we decided to get silly and took these...

it was a close call

these were taken the next morning after church...

and this one was taken on the way down. we were on a short and steep cliff wall - those are NOT jo's favorite. i was making fun of her. i'm a bad friend but this photo made me laugh. 

jo is so cute, love her

alrighty, and now i leave you with a few items of interest:

• look how cute these shoes are with just a little glitter
• the trailer for the hunger games it out - and it looks great
• mike is growing a mustache for movember - please donate to a good cause
• matthew weiner talks with grantland about mad men
• the muppets do twilight

over and out - good nite!