Fall Race

During my training for the Nike Women's Marathon, I promised David that it would most likely be the only full marathon I would run for a while.  While training for a half marathon fits easily into my life and encourages a sensible amount of daily exercise, training for a full TOOK OVER my life and made me a bear to be around 75% of the time.  The other 25% of the time I was actually running.


Of course, as everyone predicted, I started plotting my 2nd marathon seconds after finishing my first.  

I'm fickle like that :)


I had been looking for another full marathon to do--sometime in late September or early October.  San Fransisco is a little pricey to do again, so we were looking at Chicago.  Sadly, that also happens the weekend of David's 30th birthday...and I felt more than a little selfish taking over his birthday weekend to go run a really long ways, especially with my pre-marathon hiatus from drinking.
David disagreed and wanted to go to Chicago.  We hemmed and hawed.


Hem.


Haw.


I missed the registration for Chicago.


So that's out.  There's a full marathon in St. Charles (a suburb of St. Louis) around that same time, but there's a part of me that REALLY wants running that far to be an event.  I like the idea of planning trips around major races and something seems really anticlimactic about training for months  to run that far in the suburbs.


Right now, I'm not sure what the plan is...should I look around for an affordable marathon in the midwest (or at least a cheap plane ride away)?  Or I could run another half in the fall (around here) and work really hard this summer to train.


Heck, maybe I'll just buy a road bike and a wetsuit and do triathlons.





We can't make decisions to save our lives.

Kitchen Painting

I want to paint my kitchen.

Terribly....but I don't just want to paint the walls, I want to paint the cabinets, backsplash, AND laminate countertop.  I've done some internet research...and apparently that's all possible.

Scary, but possible.

I also want new flooring.

Of course, I don't want to pay for any of this....but I can dream about colors.

Here's what the kitchen looks like right now.

Oh, hello Maggie.  

Here is my dream color scheme....ignore the horrible job of line drawing.  I am no graphic designer!

White cabinets, dove grey counters and backsplash, charcoal grey floors and lavender grey walls.

I also want to use a deeper, coordinating purple/lavender for our baker's rack (it's on the other wall) and as an accent color--meaning I would paint the wooden knife block and that inspire sign the accent color.

Thoughts?  Think I can pull it off???  I don't work in the summer...so in theory it could take 2 months of full time work and not make me murder anyone.

Except I wouldn't be able to cook.  And that would stink!

Shelley's Wedding!

This weekend, David and I traveled to Kansas City to attend Shelley's wedding... and it was great!  Shelley and I were both Alpha Xi's in college, which means we've known each other for almost 10 years.

That also means that we're getting old, but that's beside the point.

I woke up super early on Saturday, did a 7 mile run, showered, forced David out of bed, and then headed up to the city.  We stayed with my friend Maren... making sure to arrive at her condo before the K-State game started.  Sadly, the game didn't end with a Wildcat victory...but the cats had a good season.  

Shelley's wedding was at a church in Mission where her parents were also married.  How cute is that?  

The reception was at Boulevard Brewing Company in a room overlooking the production center. 

 Swanky and awesome.

David was excited because there was unlimited Boulevard Beer....check out this smile!

I was excited because I got to see girls that I hadn't seen in a long while... in this picture girls live in Kansas City, New York, Dallas, Manhattan, Chicago, a town 30 minutes west of Wichita, and St. Louis.  

It's hard to get together anymore!

It's even harder to get a group shot (but David did try!).  

Just kidding... David thought this one would be funny.

And that's why I love him :)

This picture is most likely the first and only photograph together of Kat and I looking like normal people.  We have a history of taking ridiculous, horrible date party photographs together... most of which looked like this.

Eh, I probably still would have purchased that picture if we had taken it at a date party.  

For some reason, I spent a lot of time rocking out in front of these signs.  They weren't on the dance floor...they were just outside the women's bathroom.  I think David was looking at the memorabilia and I was trying to convince him that we needed to go dance to Bootylicious or something like that.

I think this is my favorite picture of the night... Cooper's probably not sure if she's in the shot or not, but decided to put on a smile.  What a trooper!

The next day, we went and met my friends Cari and Annie for brunch...unfortunately for Cari, there was a communication breakdown (error=me) and she spent 45 minutes waiting in First Watch.

Ooops.

But I still got to see the baby belly!!

Note: I asked before I touched the belly.  I've learned this is a good thing.  

For some reason, it's not cool to grab baby bellies without explicit permission.

Additional note: Annie and I both have purple purses!  I just noticed this!  

Also, we match Cari's shirt...maybe we were all still dressing for K-State?

Elite Eight!

It's no secret to anyone that I am indifferent, at best, to most sports.  I enjoy going to games, but purely for the social aspect.  If I were allowed to tailgate and promptly go home once a game started, I would be a happy woman.  I've found that my disinterest stems mostly from the fact that other people are interested in the game we're watching and refuse chatter with me or otherwise goof off during games.  Seriously, who goes to games to watch them?  

The only shining spot in my sports watching history is baseball... I've found that no one really watches baseball.  The most avid fan will be focusing on the game 7-8 minutes at most.

I love going to baseball games.

Last night, however, I watched an ENTIRE basketball game.  

Avidly. 

Did you see K-State play last night?  Even I was excited--double overtime is nothing to sneeze at.  It was like someone at Buffalo Wild Wings was rooting for some overtime (joke courtesy of Erin Garrett's facebook wall)

I have to say, though, credit must go where credit is due... if I hadn't married a man who so completely loves sporting events, I probably wouldn't have turned on the game, much less stayed up until past 11:30.

Because, seriously, I get up at 5:30.  I'm cranky on too little sleep.

My absolute favorite moment of the game was when they showed Frank Martin talking to the team in the locker room... he called their offense both "selfish" and "silly."  When a man who looks like this

most of the time uses the word "silly" twice during one pep talk, you know he's HIGHLY aware a camera is on his face.

Silly, silly offense.

Drugging the Roo-Bear

My baby girl has an issue.

She's a snorer...and it's getting WAAAAAAY worse every single night.

I called Dad.  He says it's because all of her fat is smooshing her breathing passages.  

His solution: drop the chub.

I told her that.  And she looked at me with these big pretty eyes.

So I gave her a treat for being pretty.

After that fiasco, I called Dad back and said I needed a short-term solution.  

Now, Maggie gets half a tab of benadryl every single night.  The only issue is that I have to sprinkle the pills on a bit of peanut butter.  I think she's put on a few more pound-o's since we've started.

However, when Maggie's drugged, she's hilarious.  Wandering around with lidded eyes, if she was more lethargic, I would wonder if she had died.

But, man, it stops her snoring. 

My new cookbook

On Sunday, I ran over to Borders to buy our new bookclub book, and got distracted by discount (!) cookbooks.

I love cookbooks...but these were a little weird.  I only saw promising recipes while I was flipping through it in the line, but once I got home, I uncovered some treasures like this.... 

Chargrilled Baby Octopus... yuck.  But, I think if I really tried, I could find some octopus in a specialty store.

Maybe.

The next one, though... I don't think so.

Kangaroo Pies.  Like a chicken pot pie, only with 1lb of KANGAROO RUMP!!!!!

OMG, I think I need to return this cookbook.  It calls for kangaroo.

12 miles done!

Before getting sick, I successfully completed my last long run before the half marathon on Saturday...

...now it's time for the taper.

I love the taper.  It's my favorite part of running.

You know, running less. :)

I wanted to show you guys this really cool thing that happens when I run a long ways.  My sweat dries all funny on my face and just leaves a salt crust.  You might have to click on the picture to make it bigger (does that work in blogger?  I have no idea), but you can totally see the salty sweaty monster I was after the run.

Also, check out my new headband.  I love it!

I usually HATE head bands, especially while running because they never seem to stay put or do what I want them to do.  This one (from www.sweatybands.com ) didn't move once during the 12 mile run.  I never had to touch it!  AMAZING!

Yeah, it was a little pricey...I bought it on impulse while buying a pair of running shoes and didn't realize how much it cost until looking at my receipt in the car.  Yipes.  However, totally worth every stinking penny.

If only I could afford 100 more.