Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Does this make my thumb look green?

Since I'm not gifted at all in the gardening department (although that's been a bit difficult since our townhouse has no room for gardening anyway), this is my version of how to make flowers grow :)  I've already posted the picture on here, but my flower pin finally made its debut the other day and it went perfectly with one of my black dresses!  I wasn't sure what exactly to do with it, but I thought it went great with this satin dress.  So until I find my green thumb, this will have to do!!  And at least it won't wilt! (Sorry it's blurry- it's from my phone. It's also a super awkward position to take the picture from- but I was too embarassed to ask anyone else at work to take it!)

Thursday, August 19, 2010

"Baxter, you know I don't speak Spanish"


I'm SUPER excited for several fun trips coming up in the next 6 months or so!!  One thing I worry about when "baby time" comes is that our travel time will be no more.  So I feel like I'm trying to cram in as much traveling as possible.  That being said, here are some of the great trips already planned:

~In September, we're going with some friends white water rafting!!  It's Nick's first time, and I haven't been since 11th grade- plus, the friends who are going are super fun :)  (This isn't really much of a "trip" I realize since it's still WV- but exciting nonetheless!)
~In October, we have some great friends getting married in Atlanta, which will definitely be a great party.  And it'll be my first time to stay in Atlanta for longer than a day.
~In November, we're going to a home Auburn game, and I CANNOT wait!!!  I fell IN LOVE with Auburn football at my first game back in 2006, so I've been dying to get back there for another game.  And to make it even better, it's the game against UGA and several of Nick's best friends are traveling to be there too :) 
~Then in March, the NAPA rewards trip is sending us to Coronado in California- and I've wanted to go there for several years!!  These trips are one of the main reasons I love NAPA Auto Parts :)
~And last, and most exciting: SPAIN!!!!  Nick and I are going in March for our "last big trip before baby" to a few cities in Spain!!  We're staying the first part of the trip on the island of Majorca (Mallorca), then coming back for the last half and hitting Madrid, Tarragona, and Barcelona, and Nick's going to fish the Ebro River (thanks to all the "River Monsters" episodes he's watched lately.)  We originally planned on going to Greece, but for some reason decided on Spain instead.  I should probably start studying up on the sites and learning a few words before we go!!  I guess it would've been more beneficial for me to have taken 6 semesters of Spanish instead of French, huh? :) 

Friday, August 13, 2010

Some highlights from day 1096

Nick and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary on Wednesday :)  So I had to share a few of my favorite pictures from August 11, 2007.  It was the best day ever!!!
{For the record, these are good tears, not sad tears}



We had such a fun party :) Love these of all our friends celebrating!!


I know I already made a list of my favorite random things about Nick, but my very favorite thing hands down is his love and passion for his Savior. When I hear him talk about it, I'm inspired and I fall even more in love with my Lord.  Even after almost 5 years of listening him talk with the youth group and Barboursville school kids, it still almost always brings me to tears when he does a lesson and tells them about Jesus.  His understanding of the Gospel and his desire to share it with others is amazing and beautiful.  Sometimes I get overwhelmed with the blessing that God chose to let me be the one by his side, to serve with him, for the rest of our lives.

I'm so thankful I get to be his wife. I know marriage takes work, but it hardly seems like it with Nick.  He is so slow to anger, and quick to forgive.  He's always ready to make life fun and reminds me to forget worrying about the little things.  He's so gracious toward others, and is constantly filling me with encouragement and kind words and compliments.  His disposition and personality make him so fun to be married to.  I wish I was better with words- I feel like a 5-year-old wrote this :) Here's just a few of my favorite things about our anniversary:

~When I left for work in the morning (long after Nick had already gone), the inside of my car was full of red hearts he had cut out and taped all around :)  I was wondering why the red Christmas wrapping paper was sitting on our dining room table... and this was the answer to my question.
~The card he gave me had a mermaid and lots of little sea creatures on it, and was for a little girl's 6th birthday.  But he crossed out and added his own words, and (my favorite part) made conversation bubbles for all the cartoon animals :)  I love getting cards from him that are not for the appropriate occasion.
~We ate at Rocco's (which I could write an entire blog about how amazing that was, but I'll just sum it up by saying UNBELIEVABLE), and Nick was feeling pretty good by the time we left.  I'd like to point out that he only had ONE glass of wine, and I ended up having to drive home. Seriously, 1 glass of Lambrusco, and he was, what we might call, tipsy.  Here's what he started talking about on the way to the car: "Things that I love: Joy, Jesus, my nose hair trimmer.." Really? Nose hair trimmer is #3 in things you love?  :) 
~On the drive home, still feeling the wine of course, we're riding with the windows down and he decides it's a good idea to take his shirt off for the rest of the trip.  He explains by saying, "It's West Virginia.  Isn't this what they do?"  So I guess WV is known for driving around sans clothing.  So for the 20-minute car ride home, I couldn't help smiling as he kept leaning out the car, loudly singing along with Fiona Apple's "Criminal" and Akon's "I wanna make up right now na na", among a few others :)  I sure do love that man.
Even though we had some crazy storms that flooded many streets in Huntington and our power was out until the next day (don't worry- I showered and got ready at the Y), the power outage actually made it an even nicer evening- no distractions like the computer or TV and candles lit all over the house :)  It was a perfect night!!

Friday, August 6, 2010

So cute!!

My friend Maggie has been super inspiring on cute crafts lately!!  Last Wednesday, we got together with another friend, Jess Poole, and made these adorable flower pins that we had seen on another blog- madebylex.com.  (Let's just say that I ended up staying for 4 HOURS!!! With me being a super slowpoke crafter + being with really fun friends= not getting projects finished in a timely manner!!) Anyway, I'm seriously obsessed with this blogger's creations, fashion, and overall cuteness!  Here's the original flower pin:





And here's how mine turned out (sadly, I didn't get a picture of Maggie's or Jess' pins- but theirs were even cuter!):
I do love these colors for fall!

The next project we want to tackle is a yarn wreath, which I think will be PERFECT for fall!!  Maggie found some great example ones on etsy, and then a tutorial from this new blogger, who I now have a blog crush on. 
Here's her tutorial and wreath:



And here's another cute wreath Mags found:



My wedding is definitely way past (3 years next week actually!), but I'm IN LOVE with these amazing invitations that this girl designed.  Do you think maybe Nick and I should have a renewing of the vows this year- so I could use these? :)






One last future project I want to create- I think these would be such cute, personal wedding gifts :)  And since we have 10 weddings this year (10 in '10!!), I'd have plenty of opportunity to give this a try!!  If I ever get around to making one, I'll post it (sidenote: This seller is asking $60 a piece for these- crazy!!)



Happy Friday!! 

Monday, August 2, 2010

Life at these (not-so-fast) speeds

Back way too long ago, when I was a soph or jr. in college (around '01, folks- we're seriously going back far), I decided to go out and try to break 20 minutes in a 5k.  I had just started getting back into running on my own, after taking a few months of due to injury. After running XC my freshman year at Covenant,  I came back thinking I'd run for Marshall starting sophomore year. But after putting in way too many miles and overtraining that summer, I got injured and have basically battled injuries on and off ever since then.  So I can't remember if this was right after coming back from my IT band injury or right after the summer I had a stress fracture in my shin, but I got back into my routine of running for several weeks and decided to try a sub-20-minute 5k... and I ran a 20:02.  I know it sounds ridiculous, but it was heartbreaking.  After that race, I got so discouraged (and I'm such a headcase about running anyway) that I didn't run a 5k race for a few years after that.  I ran other distances, but stayed away from competing in a 5k.  Stupid- I know.  But I figured that by not putting myself out there and trying, then I was saving myself disappointment because then I couldn't fail again. 

With that being said, I'm now far from being able to run a sub-20 minute 5k haha :)  But I do have a new goal.  Back in May a friend at work asked me to run a 5k for a charity she's involved with, so I agreed, even though I knew it wouldn't be pretty.  I ran it in about 22:35 and wasn't too upset about that time since I hadn't been ready whatsoever for actually "racing".  So the following weekend my favorite charity, Little Victories, put on their 5k, and I decided I wanted to break 22 minutes.  I ran a 21:57- just barely made it!!  The official clock said I ran a 21:27, and I wish I could say that was my true time! But something must have gotten screwed up with their timer because my personal watch did not agree, and I heard some other runners say the same.  I realize these aren't at all record breaking times, but I was pleased- since I seriously never do speed workouts.  Wait- maybe twice a year I do.  But basically never.
 
So now I'm setting a goal to run in the low 21's.  I'm definitely gonna have to get in better speed shape, but it's a time I think I'd be happy with at this point in my life.  I wish I was still on a team where I didn't have a choice but to do the workouts that the coach made me do.  But I'm apparently gonna have to find my own motivation and push myself :)  I've been going to a spinning class at the Y the last several weeks- and man, that kicks my butt.  It's a totally different workout than just going out and enjoying a run.  I leave those classes a little woozy and sick, and my legs feel like jell-o.  So I'm hoping maybe that will translate over and help improve my speed in running some too. 

My 1 other goal is to either run a better marathon time, or run a good half marathon.  Nick had planned on doing NYC this year and I thought about trying it again by entering to run for a charity.  But with his knee surgery taking longer than expected to heal :(, he's decided to wait til 2011.  So I was thinking about doing San Antonio on November 14- but now we're thinking about heading to the Auburn/Georgia game that weekend (yay!!!)  So if that ends up the plan, then I'm gonna run the Marshall University half marathon right here in Huntington November 7 and try for a 1:45 time.  They also have a full marathon that day- but since there are less than 500 people who do the full and maybe 50 people cheering along the way, then I feel like it's basically the same as if I'd go out and run 26.2 miles by myself one random day.  I'd rather wait and do a big race with lots of people cheering you on for a full marathon.  Anyway, so I may just wait til next November and do NYC again with Nick.  It throws things off a little since we've been tossing around the idea of trying to get pregnant next spring/summer (I can't even talk about this)- but we may just need to bump it back a few more months :)  I just need to improve on my sad time that I ran in my first full marathon.  I'm just still bummed out that I had trained so hard and had trained to run a 3:45-3:50 and should have been able to do it, and then things just got a little screwed up with my leg 2 weeks before.  And I think since I had wanted to run a marathon since I was 18, I had it in my head that it was going to be impossible.  But now that I see I can do it, I feel like I'll be able to shave off a big chunk of time.  I will admit that the thought of all those long runs by myself again depresses me a bit lol :)  I LOVE to run, but after about the 2 hour mark, it's not very fun anymore and my body starts to hate me.  I'd love it if there was a group here to train with, but that sadly is not the case.  So I guess I'm just gonna have to get stronger mentally and get out there on my own!!  Just wanted to write down the reasons for some of my recently added goals on my 101 list.