this weekend i have a lot of friends doing a pretty cool thing: running! a very long distance!
the adorable megan smith will be doing her 4th (i think, but it could very well be her 10th) marathon. that girl is an animal!
and my other adorable friend, amy d., is doing her first half marathon along with amy m. and kelly j. (this is my fleet feet gang - they know how to repreZENT). i am super excited for them! their first big race, 13.1 miles is far far far.
it is quite the accomplishment, just think about it...megan will be running 26.2 miles on sunday and the amys and kelly will be pulling in 13.1 - it takes a lot of dedication and lot of hard work to get to a place where you can put out that distance.
oh yeah - i cannot blah blah blah on this without giving a big shout out to amy h. (i know a lot of amys) - she completed the nyc half-marathon a few weeks ago.
she is AWESOME and rocks so very much. whee! i entered the lottery for that race but didn't get in, but i am so happy amy did - she did so well!
here she is before the race, happy
and here she is after the race, even happier i am sure
i signed up to get texts from amy's run, we were in community group at church and i kept checking my phone. i hope they don't think i was being rude but i was so excited for her. forgive me.
amy h., lisa and i are running the 5K on sunday - it makes it one year for me and my running. the covenant 5K was the first race i did in my recent running gig - it was a terrible race for me but i am sure sunday will be way better!
oh yeah, i also signed up to run the chicago half-marathon in september. i'll be doing it with mike and i figure i have enough time to get my rear in order for that. yikes, though.
here's a random photo of lottie sue, she had a booboo on her eye and loved it that she got to wear a band-aid there.
disclaimer: she didn't even need one but she is obsessed with band-aids. she will put them on any booboo, be it me grazing her leg as i walk by - oh no! she needs a band-aid. right away! i oftentimes walk past her bathroom and find a band-aid wrappings littering the floor. now i know what we are getting her birthday...
the bandaid is 100s times bigger than the booboo
matt said she looked like nelly.
he's right
so a few weekends ago we had kitty kat (and jasper) and the gilmores (and cj) in town at the same time. since it's hard to coordinate seeing everyone we threw a lunch party so everyone could come over to one gathering and catch up. kitty kat has a baby girl in utero, so everyone had to see her and her cute belly.
matt and i moved furniture and brought any toy we thought the kids might like. we thought they all had a great time. brad even made a video of the event - it's great. check it out!
they DID wreck the place, but they are cute it's no problem
there was the video and here are some photos i pulled off the camera...
rowdy puckering up to give me a smooch
(that boy is still loving his mommy strong)
an overall shot of some of the party
(please note carrie and scott in the background, they both
had on navy and white striped shirts. dorks in love)
cj eats goldfish and cassady pushes the popper around
lottie sue and jasper play in the tent
(lottie sue called jasper "my prince" all afternoon - it was cute)
this is all you saw of lottie crawling through the tent's tunnel
cj taking a cautious look at the grandfather clock
jasper on the trampoline
kids on the roller coaster
it was such a fun time, if we would have gotten together three years ago there would not be any kids and here we are - they almost outnumber us! we like it!
we kept the tent up for a few days since the kids liked it, i usually just bring it out on rainy days (which we have been having a lot of those lately).
matt and kids stuffed in the tent
on to another subject...the smiths and masons went down to new orleans for mardi gras and came back with a LOAD of beads/cups/frisbies/and the like.
can you find me?
next up lottie sue, she thought it was soooo funny
(although rowdy did NOT like it when i was covered
with the beads - see, loving his mommy)
with the beads - see, loving his mommy)
but he was fine chewing on the viking horns
lottie sue took these from the stash and i found
them like this in the dining room later
them like this in the dining room later
katie came over with hudson since they were in town (yay!). lottie sue loved to play with hudson and she was so proud of herself for picking him up.
don't worry, she had a spotter
wonder woman
she then tried to pick up rowdy but couldn't, this is
as far as she got - that boy is a load (built solid)
the hussars hosted our last dinner group. they based it on one of their favorite restaurants in nyc, i will have to check but its name is the red cat - anywho...it was fab.
the gracious hosts
sidenote: the hussars used blackboard paint to make the board, it's in the butler's pantry and is so great. the twins can color on it and it just honestly looks cool. PLUS, amy found these awesome chalk markers. they are what restaurants use and are so neat. everyone commented on the board. amy got them at michael's but i found them on amazon if you are so inclined.
i am trying to figure out what wall we can paint so i can buy these
i only have one group shot of the night, must have been too busy eating...
jo, always camera-ready
lemoncello straight from italy
and i should really thank carrie, she is feeding my nutella obsession. she sent me a recipe for nutella cheesecake brownies - i am totally making these. i don't have much of a sweet tooth but i do have a nutella mouth.
click here for the recipe
she also sent a link for nutella cupcakes...
and then click here for this gluten-free recipe
if you are on facebook then i am sure you have seen this. it's pretty cute.
i have no idea what they are saying, but it's super cute
i have no idea what they are saying, but it's super cute
ok. and last but not least - a few items of interest...
From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you’re on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.
The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
The lamp just sat there, like an inanimate object.
They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan’s teeth.
- 10 must read books for girls and boys, by boys and girls
- the washington post held a contest in which high school teachers sent in the "worst" analogies they'd encountered grading papers. you can see the full list here but i am listing a few of my faves...
From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you’re on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.
The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
The lamp just sat there, like an inanimate object.
They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan’s teeth.
- david foster wallace, in his own words
- we have to wait until 2012 to see the new season of mad men :(
- sarah silverman is going to guest star on the the good wife (i LOVE that show)
