Pumpkin Patch Fun.

Weekends seem to go by so quickly! You get off on a Friday afternoon and before you know it, it is time to spend a Sunday evening preparing for the upcoming week. This weekend proved to be momentous and full of Autumn fun. Our girl is growing up so fast. I watched in amazement as she strolled around the Pumpkin Patch, pointing to "pun-kins"and taking in the atmosphere. She led us through a corn maze, without fear or hesitation. Moments like these are what I cherish the most. The Autumn and holiday season is upon us and I am embracing every fallen leaf, every windy breeze.......

 

What Would You Tell Your Younger Self?

Do you ever find yourself wondering, “what if?” I don’t necessarily like to dwell on What could have been, but yesterday Re and I were having a conversation that sparked an interesting circle of the past. Earlier in the day as I was meeting Re for lunch, the radio playing old school tunes in the background and Jennifer Lopez’s first single came on;  If you had my love, which made me think of her single “Waiting for Tonight,” which then sent my mind on a time machine back to my freshman year of high school. My mind seems to do that sometimes, trickle down from one topic to another. So excuse me if this post  is everywhere. So anyway, I continued to tell him about my life status during the time of “Waiting for Tonight,” and how that song defined a certain part of my life. Have you ever heard a song and as a result, memories, past feelings, emotions, people; anything and everything you can think of was held within 3 or 4 minutes of that one song? Waiting for tonight came out right before the whole Y2K craziness; I was planning my New Year Plans for 2000, which consisted of designing a perfect night of Chinese food with friends, a Phillipino gentleman, a hot red dress, and dancing the night away in the cobblestone streets of Wiesbaden, Germany. Now that I look back, was that really ideal for a 15 year old girl? Ha! Probably not, but it seemed perfect for me at the time. I had a lot of independence in Germany (thank you parents), which created a lot of momentous and unforgettable memories. My plans were demolished by my parents who thought all chaos would break out and insisted I spend the New Year with them and a bunch of grownups. I ended up watching TRL the whole night and falling asleep. So as I babbled on to my husband about my New Years story and how young, carefree, and wild I used to be as a teenager, I thought to myself that if I could tell my younger self something, I would speak to Adrienne at age 17, first real boyfriend, Junior and Senior year. This is what I would have told her:

“Yes you feel like you are in love, and yes it feels amazing and what not, but don’t be so serious. Live life and appreciate having friends. Go out, enjoy Germany at this age. Don't spend every minute, second, hour of the day in a trance over this guy. HAVE FUN! This guy isn’t worth not going to Italy with your family, he’s not worth quitting the basketball team, or your friends, or you not doing so well in school at the time. Needless to say, I was wrapped up and whipped.” Oh Adrienne.

And then I would shake her and say: WAKE UP!!

As I was telling my husband this, he popped my moment of reminiscence only to tell me he would destroy my time machine, because that change and shift would have maybe caused us to not meet. He said without me he would probably still be in Daleville. He described a whole story of what his life would be like, which wasn’t good according to him, but still humorous. We laughed uncontrollably about the “what ifs” and “where would we be right now had we not met?” A great conversation I am still laughing about a day after.

I am 28 years old now. I have traveled to amazing places, met some inspiring and influential people, created memories from heartbreaking to fulfilling and I would not change one moment. I am right where I am supposed to be; with my Autumn and my Re.

Half Marathon Madness!

Half Marathon came and went. Feeling everything from ecstatic to pain to a sense of calmness, oh and not to mention, extreme hunger! I managed to get a good nights rest, woke up at 5:50 am, “suited up” and I was ready to go!

As the starting gun went off, I began the race feeling the “runners high,” feeling overwhelmed, I wanted to cry.  Being surrounded by runners and the rush of excitement, I was ready for this race. Overall, I think I did great. When I first decided to run this race, I anticipated a time of 2 hours and 20 minutes. I finished at 2:12 today. By the end of the race I was ready to finish and be done, at mile 13 I thought “there is no way I am going to do a full marathon.” Finishing a half marathon has been on my goal list for as long as I can remember. I think it started when my mom ran the 2009 New Orleans half marathon. At that time, it seemed impossible, but I had the gleam in my eyes…….one day. I’ve been running since I was 10 years old, my mom would drag me to all of her 5k races and I’d always end up running them too. I ran cross country in elementary, middle school and continued in high school. So today I felt like this race was something I was meant to do, something to check off my bucket list. 

Of course I can’t take all of the credit. I must thank some very important people, most importantly, my husband and my Autumn. My husband can finally get his wife back. I say that because my nights were cut short for early morning runs before work, instead of late night cuddling in front of the television.  Overall, it wasn’t an easy journey and with the motivation of my hubby and Autumn, I would have probably given up. I am looking to taking a running break and enjoying some downtime. I say that, but I give myself a week before I’m back on the pavement. The weekend was amazing, a few days of sleeping, relaxation and doing absolutely nothing. We decided to cancel our New Orleans trip and opt for a restful weekend, as much as I was looking forward to going, I am happy its just the three of us.
Dare I say, I am thinking of running the full 26.2 New Orleans Rock-n-Roll Marathon in February 2014.....

Oh Friday......

It’s FRIDAY!! Today we sent Autumn off on her very first field trip to Montgomery Zoo! At 2 years old, it often seems she is growing at a rapid rate. Too fast for Re and I. Sometimes I have to step back and savor these tiny moments. They make me want to cry, but also bring a lot of joy! For the past week, Autumn has been climbing into our bed at night. Our first reaction was, “okay, we have to get her back to her bed,” but then I asked myself, “why?” She isn’t hurting anyone and we all get enough sleep through the night, and it’s such an amazing feeling to wake up in the middle of the night and see her tiny body sleeping! She looks cozy, warm and at peace. So for now, if she decides to join us, it’s a pleasant surprise, if not, that’s okay too.

Today I picked up my runners packet for the Montgomery Half Marathon, my very first. Up until now, I’ve been calm and just ready to get it over with. Now the anxiety and nervousness is kicking in, with a mix of “WHOA! I can’t believe I’m really going to do this.” Training has been exhausting, consisting of 5 am runs before work, along with getting myself and Autumn dressed, then pretty much on the go until 9:00 pm that night, only to repeat the same process the next day. My Saturdays consisted of LONG runs at 6 am, so sleeping in only occurred on Sundays. Overall, I am excited for this accomplishment, but happy to take a much needed break. Dare I say, I am contemplating running the New Orleans Rock “n” Roll Marathon (26.2 miles) in February 2014!    But we shall see……..

Time to Get Away.

Before we head out on another trip, another adventure, I do a little shopping beforehand. Not only for myself, but for the wee one too. New Orleans is fastly approaching and I am excited about this upcoming trip. I cannot count how many times we have visited New Orleans, but this time will be different; more sightseeing and beautiful accommodations in the French Quarter. New Orleans has a lot of fun filled family things to do. Our agenda consists of the Louisiana Children’s Museum http://lcm.org/, The Audubon Zoo http://www.auduboninstitute.org/visit/zoo, plantation visits and of course FOOD, FAMILY & FUN!

above photo: Skirt (Old Navy), Top (Mini Rodini), Shoes (Mini Melissa).

A Weekend of Firsts.

It is Sunday and what a beautiful weekend it has been.

This blog is still a work in progress and in my efforts to avoid writing a paper for school, I thought I would turn my procrastination into some quality blogging time.

This weekend has been a weekend of Autumn firsts.

On Saturday we took a drive for some ice cream and a walk in the park.

Autumn had her first scoop of ice cream. First ice cream serving at age 2? Whoa! As parents, we monitor what our little one eats, candy and sweets are rare and often a delicacy. 

At first a little unsure and skeptical, she became comfortable with her strawberry scoop.

Today, Sunday, I finally became comfortable with the idea of painting her toenails. I'm not sure how or why I thought it would be a good idea to do this, but with the never ending ideas of bonding with Miss Autumn, I thought how awesome it would be to do this together on a raining afternoon. So I grabbed the purple and pink nail polish she picked out yesterday, and there we sat on the living room floor, just us girls. After painting one foot purple and the other pink, I looked at my handy work and felt a sudden twinge of regret. What did I just do? Why did I feel sad? Part of me thinks it may have been too soon, or maybe the fact that our little girl is growing up too fast! Overall, I think it may be because I jumped the gun on this one, introducing nail polish and anything "girly" may not be the best idea for my 2 year old, or more so, for me right now. So with that said, any future polishes are non existent right now. Have you had a similar experiences? Please share! 

My half marathon training is coming to an end. I ran my last long training run this morning, 8 miles. I usually do group runs with Montgomery MultiSport on Saturday mornings but opted to run alone on a Sunday morning. Slow and steady with a mix of sight seeing along the way, I managed to open my eyes and see what beautiful areas Montgomery has to offer. I am a huge fan of F. Scott Fitzgerald and came across a house he lived in from 1931 to 1932. How interesting! He met his wife/muse, Miss Zelda Fitzgerald in Montgomery, Alabama.