problem half solved

The First Half

2011-12-01T21:49:00.001-05:00

I've been putting off this post because I was hoping the race photographers would post the pictures, but they haven't done that yet. I want to get it out before I forget everything though.

I ran a half-marathon. I am officially a 13.1 miler. I really still have trouble believing this, but I did it. And I didn't DIE!!! Ha ha ha!

Robert and I signed up for the race in September, and we tried really hard to prepare all we could. We did a Hal Higdon training plan which was great, but we ended up being so busy this fall we didn't follow it like we should have. (Hint: Foreshadowing.) The day of the race we drove to Danville and met our friends at the start line. The course was absolutely beautiful. It was on the green way next to the river, and I couldn't have asked for better scenery. The first 6 miles went by pretty quickly, and I made sure to ham it up for the photographers and spectators just to keep in interesting. Mile 7 was where the craziness started. They had said that Miles 7-9 would be a little hilly, but I had no idea exactly how hilly. When I saw the first hill I thought "Ok. I got this. I'm gonna make this hill my... ummm... slave." (Preacher's wife euphemism for choicer words, ha ha!) And you know what? I did it. I totally beasted the hill. But then came the mother of all hills. I was in a little one-on-one battle with a girl I nicknamed the litterer (since I picked her race trash up off the trail *grrrr*), and I was ahead. I came around the corner and saw what seemed like mount Everest at that point. I may have said choice words, but I'll never admit to that. Anyway, I definitely was the slave that time. I still managed to stay ahead of litterer though, and most importantly I didn't quit!

After mile 9 it was (literally) all down hill from there... almost. I tracked the race distance on my iPod with my Nike+, and was not even within sight of the bridge I knew I had to cross to the finish when Nike trainer announced "Congratulations, you have reached your goal of 13.1 miles." Ummm... What?!?! Somebody's lying here. My legs listened to my trainer though and literally as soon as the congrats were out of my ear buds, I did what I've only read about until now. I hit the wall. My legs stopped working, and I limped the last mile to the finish. It's hard to describe what it's like to hit the wall, but I'm not kidding when I say my brain was shouting GO! GO! GO! and my legs were going NO! NO! NO! If you've ever worked with stubborn horses, and you know what it's like trying to push them somewhere you want them to go without them willingly moving. It ain't happening. You grunt and yell and pout and you deal. That's what I did. Grunted, yelled, pouted, dealt. In that order. When the 70-something year old speed walker in the barely sweaty jogging suit passed me that last mile I quit caring about time and just decided to finish. Now, I'm sure at this point you are laughing hysterically about the senior citizen getting the best of me, but you know what? I didn't really care. I was just thinking- you go lady! Get it! I did finally make it to the end and finished in 2 hours and 48 minutes. I was hoping to finish around 2:30, but under 3 hours is a-ok with me. And the speed walker totally doesn't count. She's clearly a robot.

Anyway- here are some things I learned from my first half-mary.

1. Marathoners are insane. The guy that finished first passed me before I hit the halfway point. He finished in just over an hour. INSANE. Everybody else finished way ahead of me. I may or may not have been second to last in my age group, but at least I beat the litterer.

2. Next time I will try to over-train. The furthest distance I ran was 11 miles before the race. That was actually one mile longer than the training plan called for because picking up an extra couple of miles on race day isn't bad. However, when the elevation screws with the actual distance (gps said 13.1, my feet on the ground and nike+ claim 14.3 and Robert's nike+ agrees), the extra mileage was borderline impossible. Just borderline though. I would have crawled across the finish if necessary.

3. If you think you can do it, you can. I'm so proud of myself just for surviving. So many people tell me they are impressed, and I keep insisting to them that it's not that impressive! Ok, the 70 year old that passed me and the looked-like-he-was-110 year old that came in like 3rd place- that's impressive. But really, if I can run 13.1 (*cough* 14.3 according to Nike) miles, so can you. So while the attention has been awesome, (you know I like attention) I'm gonna turn it around on you and tell you that you can do it too. Cuz you can! :)

4. Always finish smiling. I do this because it's fun. Yes, sometimes I have to MAKE it fun, but that's ok. Also, if you're smiling and looking happy they will take your picture.

5. I want to do it again. :)

Baby Emmy Test

2011-07-19T16:35:00.003-04:00

Thank goodness I finally found my easy picture uploader on blogger! Not sure why they had to change everything, but I'll deal. At least now I won't dread blogging because it's too complicated.

I figured since I wanted to do a test post last minute before mom and I head to Burlington to take my sis out for b-day dinner, I would go ahead and post a couple pics of the joyous occasion that occurred soon after Robert and I moved.

Baby Emalyn's Arrival!

Eli was so excited about meeting "Baby Emmy" for the first time. He proudly posed for me when I asked to see his "big brother" shirt.

Emalyn Austin May, Born June 6, 2011

You are so loved, little girl! Here's the whole family.

And a gratuitous shot of the proud aunt. :)

Anytime now my sister Paula should be ready to have hers! Then we'll have another new niece! I do so love my babies... and it's kind of strange to think that the next one to have a bebe will most likely be me! Eeek! Not for a few more years though, God willing. ;)

Our New Home

2011-07-13T10:43:00.006-04:00

A lot of friends have been asking for pictures of our new place, so I thought I'd start off with a post about moving. Now, we've been here for a month and a half, and I've been procrastinating putting up pictures because I never thought the house was clean enough! Last night when my dad came over for dinner, I figured this was going to be as clean as it gets!

Here we go- Welcome to the Ashby Abode!

Moving was a bit chaotic. We rented a U-haul and did everything ourselves pretty much. Mom was kind enough to come out to Tennessee to help pack up though, and the church helped unload everything on the Virginia side. Here are some shots of the moving process. Sorry they are all smaller than normal. Blogger's photo upload seems to have been down-graded substantially. Grrr....

Finally here! Now, so many boxes to unpack...

A month later, and we are finally *almost* completely settled.

Kitchen shot. (The red island is actually a dresser we found in the basement! It needs a bit of painting and a countertop, but other than that it's perfect. It was definitely an awesome treasure find.)

Dining Room

Living Room- Most of the furniture in this room was brand new, but the yellow chair we did buy from a church member. It's vintage and so adorable.

Bathroom

Master Bedroom- I love the wall color in here! I was nervous to paint my room something called "Cucumber," but I think it turned out beautifully! The room is so cool and serene, and it's gorgeous in the sunshine.

Guest room- this is the only room we had to paint ourselves. I love the buttery yellow color, but other than that I haven't done much in here. Right now it's home to all of my classroom materials and pictures yet to be put up.

And finally- the Man Cave. Robert set this room up as our home gym and a place for the youth to hang out when they come over.

Well there you have it! Our house. :) Hopefully we'll have guests soon so I'll have incentive to clean up the guest room. We love living here, and although we miss our Knoxville friends terribly, coming here was a great choice for us. Well, that's all I'm going to post today. Blogger is being a bugger, so until I figure out these new changes, I'll say Adieu.

So Inspiring...

2011-07-11T12:28:00.003-04:00

I had to share. This is such a great post- especially for all of us who think/thought we could *never* run a race. I started my half marathon training last week, so I'll be updating about that (and the new house) soon. Until then- enjoy!

Running is for Crazy People - HTP

Hey Friends!

2011-05-10T17:07:00.001-04:00

I'm getting really sick of looking at pictures of bacon on my blog every time I sign in, so I thought I would at least type you a quick update.

Big News

It's my birthday! Robert got me flowers. He rocks. As do the rest of you that have sent me so much birthday love. <3

Bigger News

We're moving!!! Robert got a job back home in Virginia near our families, so we'll be heading that way the first week of June. You can imagine this adds all sorts of crazy to my already overwhelmed life, so it'll be summer before I start blogging regularly again. Also- I'm going to be teaching middle school next year! Not sure if that's exciting or terrifying... probably both. It's so sad to leave Karns, but I'll be so happy to be home with all the nieces and nephews. No more missed birthday parties or kindergarten graduations!

I should have lots of material to keep you all entertained. Later Gators!

Quick Anatomy Lesson

2011-04-21T17:47:00.000-04:00

We interrupt your quasi-regularly scheduled blogging program for a brief lesson in anatomy. It has come to my attention that some people in this world do not understand the difference between seasonings, condiments, and meat. This is for you- Bernie's BBQ of Knoxville.

First let me introduce myself- I am a pescatarian. That might be a big word for your BBQ filled brains, so how about a related but similar concept- vegetarian. See Bernie- there are people in this world that do not eat meat. I know you can't barbeque a vegetable, so that's probably a foreign concept, but it's true. In fact, for some people, eating meat is even against their religion. Your customers take these things seriously, and an establishment concerned with good customer service would too. However, Bernie, I get the idea that you don't take much stock in that whole customer service mumbo jumbo.

So here's my grievance- The baked potato and salad I ordered this morning were asked to be prepared WITHOUT MEAT. We even underlined the word meat. You can hardly blame me for being a little shocked when my food came looking like this...

In fact, these pictures do not even do justice to the comical piles of bacon you covered my veggies with. I thought it was an honest mistake, so I had a colleague call and inform you of the mix-up. A decent restaurant establishment interested in keeping its customer base and avoiding bad press would have fixed my order. But not you Bernie. Apparently you will support your carnivore world view despite any personal loss. You refused to fix my order claiming that your restaurant "does not consider bacon a meat." Because I had not specified NO MEAT OR BACON, I was going to have to go without lunch. When asked what you did consider meat, you said "Chicken, BBQ, Beef, or Ham." Well Bernie- I've got something to show you.

There it is- bacon right next to the ham. I don't think it could be any clearer. Dictionary.com defines meat as "the flesh of an animal used for food." Bacon comes from a pig. A pig is an animal. Bacon is used (by some, not all) as food. Ergo- Bacon is a meat. Not a condiment. Not a seasoning. It's a meat.

End Scene.

Day 8: If a pic is worth a thousand laughs...

2011-04-18T18:02:00.000-04:00

Then this video is worth a million. Enjoy.

Day 7: Material Girl

2011-04-13T16:46:00.002-04:00

I'm not very materialistic. So today when the challenge asked for my most treasured item, I had trouble trying to pick out something I couldn't live without. So I am bending the rules a bit and settling for my most treasured items...

my puppies. <3

These guys are definitely my favorites. If there was a fire in our apartment building, I would grab them and the guinea pigs and everything else could burn up. You can't replace the puppies. Never ever.

Day 6: Trading Places

2011-04-12T18:39:00.000-04:00

Today's task is to post a picture of someone you would like to switch places with for one day. Now, I'm very happy with my life, and I'm well aware that no one's life is perfect. I wouldn't want to take on anybody else's problems- that is for sure. However, there is someone that I would love to trade talents with.

Since I was a little girl, I have loved music- especially singing! The only issue was that I wasn't very good. I had allergies a lot as a child (DORK!), so when I tried to sing it sounded all nasally. Not pretty. As I got older though, I grew out of my periodic sniffles and I found out that I actually could sing. Not especially great, but good enough to sing in church and to my husband/friends. I LOVE singing now. I love the idea of performing, and I wish I was really, really good though so that I could have more confidence singing alone.

And that, along with the hours and hours of Glee I've been watching, is how I decided on my person for today. I would love to be as talented a singer as Lea Michele. She's gorgeous, and her voice is so unique! Rachel is easily my favorite Glee character for her voice alone. Now I'm sure Lea's life isn't perfect, but I'd love to know what it would be like to have such a talent. I can tell you that if I had her voice for 24 hours I would sing EVERYTHING, and I mean everything. I would sing my lectures, I would sing my orders at the drive through, and I would turn simple greetings into complex vocal runs. My neighbors would hate me, my students would think I was weird, and Robert would probably try to have me committed, but I wouldn't care. I would be having way too much fun!

Day 5: Forever and Ever- No matter what.

2011-04-11T20:49:00.000-04:00

Today's challenge is to post a picture of your favorite memory. I think this one is pretty self explanatory.

Happiest Day of My Life.

Married My Best Friend.

Couldn't Stop Smiling.

The First Day of Forever.

And a million more cliches that are overused because they're true.

Press Pause

2011-04-09T09:47:00.000-04:00

I'm going to have to take a day or two off from my challenge; I got really busy, really fast. Today I'm taking my GRE at 1:30pm and then driving up to Blacksburg for my friend's bachelorette party. It's going to be a long, but fun, weekend. Wish me luck on my test! I'll see you guys back here on Monday! :)

Day 4: Changes

2011-04-07T21:05:00.000-04:00

Tonight I'm going to kind of take the night off from blogging. The theme for today was to show you a picture of my night, but it's just a Thursday for us. I sincerely haven't done anything special... except a small celebration dinner at Cracker Barrel. Mainly I just wanted somewhere to get blueberry pancakes, but we felt the need to celebrate something. And there's always a reason to celebrate right? Big change is on the horizon. I can feel it. God is so good! ;-)

Day 3: Television, Schmelevision...

2011-04-06T21:16:00.000-04:00

So today I'm supposed to post a picture of the cast of my favorite TV show. Truth is though- I don't like TV much anymore. I've rediscovered a love for books (and discovered how much I like saving $100 each month not paying for cable...), so I'm limited in my television selections. However, every once in a while a show will come along that catches my attention. The X-Files was the first one, and to this day it has been the only show I have ever rushed home to see. Dad and I used to watch it together every Sunday at 9pm. I was in 8th grade, and I probably should have been more into MTV or the Eric Von Detten... No. Not me. I was a weirdo and had a ridiculous crush on David Duchovony. I'd watch the pseudo-romance unfold between Mulder and Scully, and then I'd gush the entire plot line to my best friend on Monday morning. Poor Abby. She was a good friend though and either really listened or at least pretended to listen.To be honest- I still find David Duchovony incredibly attractive, which would be why I was overjoyed when I discovered all nine seasons of the X-Files on Netflix last spring...

I had no life this summer for sure.

Anyway. The show that is currently my TV flavor of the week is Glee. I find it so hilarious and unrealistic. Plus I have a bit of a girl crush on Rachel Berry. Her "overambitious to the point of recklessness" attitude and overall awkward dorkiness reminds me of myself. I've been watching it regularly on Hulu this season, but now I'm really addicted since season 1 is on Netflix. In fact, this post is a bit ironic because right now- I'm going to watch Glee and do Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred.

What a GLEEK!

Day Two: Family is Everything

2011-04-05T18:52:00.000-04:00

For today's post, I'm supposed to post a picture of myself and the person I've been closest with the longest. The most logical person to choose is of course- my mother. I've known her all my life, and she and I shared a circulatory system for about 36 weeks at one point. Mom is a wonderful person, and she's had so much influence on my life. I'm glad I got her compassion and willingness to volunteer, and I'm even ok with the fact that I got her messiness. She's the best!

But she couldn't do it alone. The man in the photo means just as much- my daddy. The poor guy took a lot of abuse during my teenage rebellion phase, and I may or may not have treated him like an ATM a couple times in college... but my favorite memories of my childhood are curling up on the armrest of his recliner and having him read me a book. The poor armrest took so much abuse it warped! But that was our spot... Just the two of us.

Sometimes it's hard to believe that God blessed me with not one, but TWO amazing parents. I love you both so so much! Thanks for making me who I am today.

Day 1: Get to Know Your Blogger

2011-04-04T17:43:00.001-04:00

1. Let's start with the basics. My name is Liz.

I am a high school science teacher.

2. I've been happily married for almost

two years to the best husband ever!!!

Seriously- be jealous. He cleans. :)

3. I am a liberal, kumbaya singing,

love the world, give peace a chance,

(almost) vegetarian, Christian hippy.

4. I am living with a clinical case of

generalized anxiety disorder.

This is nothing I try to hide,

so if you have questions- ask away!

5. I am the most ambitious procrastinator you will ever meet.

By the way if you were wondering-

those two things are not compatible at all.

6. My doggies are my babies!

I actually want a real baby really badly,

but it's not in the cards right now.

I settle for playing with my nieces/nephews/friends' babies.

7. I'm such a snob when it comes to food, movies/shows, and music.

I rarely like mainstream things, because I like to feel like I'm different.

Don't we all?

8. I want to write a book before I die.

9. I grew up wanting to be the first lady.

I think I got pretty close when I ended up being a minister's wife.

10. I am not naturally extroverted.

That surprises some people because I seem outgoing,

but the more stressed I am, the more reclusive I become...

and I'm the WORST at keeping in touch.

Breathing Life back into the Blog

2011-04-03T16:15:00.010-04:00

I have seriously fallen off the face of the blogging earth, and I'm so sorry about that to all of you who still check back with me now and again. The good news is, I'm determined to fix this. I've discovered that blogging (good blogging anyway) can be a bit like an extra job, and with the physics class and the masters degree applications, I haven't had time to think about Problem Half Solved. In order to kick-start my blogging habit and give me some time to think about what direction I want PHS to go in, I've decided to be a little cliche. I have seen these challenges on facebook and other blogs, and I have been dying to do one! I think they are so much fun, and it will give you a chance to know me a bit more as a person and a writer. By the time I'm done with 30 days of random posts, I will have found a new direction for PHS, I will be used to blogging everyday, and I will be beyond the End of Course tests that are just around the corner and seriously stressing me out right now! So, as usual, I ask you to humor me (and pardon my vicious case of blogger's block) and enjoy these little daily bits of insight for the next month. After that, I'll be looking for your input as to what you want to see on the blog in the future! I'll be back tomorrow with day one!

Day 01 - A picture of yourself with ten facts
Day 02 - A picture of the person you have been closest with the longest
Day 03 - A picture of the cast from your favorite show
Day 04 - A picture of your night
Day 05 - A picture of your favorite memory

Day 06 - A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day
Day 07 - A picture of your most treasured item
Day 08 - A picture that makes you laugh
Day 09 - A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most
Day 10 - A picture of the person you do the most messeed up things with
Day 11 - A picture of something you hate
Day 12 - A picture of something you love

Day 13 - A picture of your favorite band or artist
Day 14 - A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without
Day 15 - A picture of something you want to do before you die
Day 16 - A picture of someone who inspires you
Day 17 - A picture of something that had a huge impact on your life
Day 18 - A picture of your biggest insecurity
Day 19 - A picture and a letter
Day 20 - A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel
Day 21 - A picture of something you wish you could forget
Day 22 - A picture of something you wish you were better at
Day 23 - A picture of your favorite book
Day 24 - A picture of something you wish you could change
Day 25 - A picture of your day
Day 26 - A picture of something that means a lot to you
Day 27 - A picture of yourself and a family member
Day 28 - A picture of something you're afraid of
Day 29 - A picture that can always make you smile
Day 30 - A picture of someone you miss

I'm back!

2011-03-19T18:16:00.000-04:00

We got back from our cruise yesterday afternoon. Robert came in and crashed for hours on end, and I did all the laundry plus cleaned a bit. Don't feel sorry for me though, I crashed the entire 6 hours we drove back! I have no idea why we were so tired! We didn't party hard or anything, and we spent the entire last day at sea sleeping and reading. Anyway, here are some highlights from our trip.

We set sail from Charleston, SC where we were immediately treated to the sight of frolicking dolphins during lunch on the deck. We unfortunately didn't get any pictures of them though. Too busy stuffing our faces, as we would do the entire week. (But I only gained 5 pounds!)

Robert was enamored with everything about the boat- the bridge, the harbor pilot, the ports- everything.

Dinner was three courses every night, and I don't think either of us has ever eaten so much seafood! I discovered a love for chilled fruit soup, we ate lobster tail and escargot, and we beasted the mongolian grill every day for lunch. We also managed to do a fairly decent job of avoiding the 24 hour pizza and ice cream vendors, which would be why we only gained 5 lbs instead of 10. That and the trips to the gym we made regularly on top of all the walking we did in port. Gotta train for our 5k coming up in about 6 weeks!

Nassau was beautiful, and the highlight was definitely the Atlantis resort. Here is the pair of 7 feet wide "baby" manta rays. They will get as big as 33 feet at their wingspan when fully grown!

We took it to the beach for the afternoon, but the water was so cold! Too cold for even Robert to swim! That made us very worried about our excursion we had planned for the next day in Freeport...

Snorkeling! We toughed it out though, and it wasn't that bad. Seeing all the fish and coral was distracting enough. We didn't make it the full hour, but there wasn't enough reef to see. I managed to have a nerd freak out when I saw a parrot fish pooping sand. This is a concept called bioerosion that we cover in my ME class. It breaks down the hard corals and literally creates those white sand beaches the tropics are so famous for. Think about that the next time you cozy into the sand. ;) Anyway, I popped up to tell Robert and the lifeguard overheard. It grossed him out that I was talking about fish poop so excitedly. Whoops!

I spent my fair share of time in the sun. But don't worry- it was safe sun. I used protection. :) Not a sunburn to speak of!

Robert and I absolutely fell in love with Key West. We plan to retire there and open a bed and breakfast with charter fishing and scuba tours to the reefs. Just got to become millionaires somehow first...

This was my first piece of Key Lime pie of the day- dipped in chocolate no less. So much happiness in such a little package. Did I mention I only gained 5 pounds? :)

I wanted conch fritters for lunch, so we headed to the harbor where a restaurant called the Conch Republic is located. We were treated with a surprise visit by a manatee! He was so adorable! Definitely my favorite part of the entire trip.

My conch fritters were delicious...

And when we left we went for a second piece of key lime pie! I was so sad to leave Key West, so our last day at sea was spent reading and sleeping. Robert was happy to be home, and I'm getting there. I'm dreading work on Monday, but I'm happy to see the puppies and our friends once again. If you offered me the chance to go back to Key West though, I'd be there in a second (with all my loved ones in tow of course). Until then, I'll just have to keep dreaming of the turquoise waters, colorful houses, and friendly manatees... and maybe work on an epic key lime pie recipe. :)

I hope you all had a great spring break if you were lucky enough to get one!

A Fishy Romance

2011-03-09T21:03:00.002-05:00

Since I'm counting down the days until spring break (two) and the days until my cruise (also two), I haven't had time to actually sit down and think out a blog post. I feel like I'm drowning in negativity lately with my students at school and all the stress, and I really don't want to be a debbie downer. I know it will pass. I also didn't want to leave you hanging though, so until I return from the bahamas with newfound optimism and hopefully a bit of a tan, here's an awesome (and funny!) video about ethical eating and fish farming. See you all in a week!

Best. Wife. Everrrrr!!!

2011-02-26T16:52:00.001-05:00

I have been shouting that all day like a ridiculous, conceited battle cry. Maybe I haven't been the best blogger ever lately, lol- but for the next 24 hours, I think I deserve a title. You see, I would never deny that I have the best husband ever. I even think I have the best puppies ever.

Charlie is a dead bug.

Quincy clearly knows how special she is.

However, in my own mind, I pale in comparison to the loved ones around me. I rarely think I'm a great wife, let alone the best! However, today is different. Today- I am the best wife ever, because it is my husband's birthday next Tuesday and I got him a flight lesson. :)

See... there's a bit of a back story to my smug feelings over this particular present. When Robert was a little boy, he got to fly in a little charter plane at the Danville Regional airport with his friend and a little girl neither of them knew. The girl got to sit in the front seat while Robert and his buddy were stuck in the back like I was today. Believe me, I didn't mind. They didn't mind either... at first. It was his first time in a plane, and he was so excited.

But as you can see here, the front seat is for the pilot and the co-pilot. So in the middle of the flight when the pilot asked the little girl if she wanted to fly the plane, Robert's little brain must have exploded with jealousy. And then, to make matters worse, the little girl refused! It must have seemed like a huge waste to the two eager boys in the backseat. In fact, it seemed like so much of a waste to my dear husband that it scarred him. He still tells that story in his adult life. I've heard it so many times, I feel like I was there.

Now the second time that Robert was jilted out of the chance to fly, I was involved. We had been dating for a year or so when my daddy got a gift certificate for a helicopter flight with our friend Lee. He let Robert and I have the trip, and we went for our Valentine's date that year. For weight balancing reasons, Robert was yet again stuck in the back seat. I was the girl in the front seat this time, and when I was offered the chance to steer, I jumped on it. However, the fact that I took advantage of my good fortune did not soothe the jealousy my poor Robert felt from the backseat. Scarred again, I heard his indignant account many, many times.

So it has been ingrained in my head that Robert desperately wanted to fly something since I have known him. In fact, there are few things that he feels this strongly about, so I felt a little guilty during our helicopter ride when he was not the one in the co-pilot's seat. In fact, Robert seems to like the idea of flying so much that I encouraged him to join the Air National Guard or the Coast Guard so he could learn. I took him places on commercial airline jets. I put up with the squealing toy helicopter he got for Christmas. But it was always in my mind that I needed to get him to fly- actually give him that chance. When I found the flight school in Morristown, I knew it was a perfect opportunity.

I tricked him into thinking he would be accompanying me to Morristown to go to a bridal shower. He's so good and agreeable that he didn't even complain much. He had no idea what was really going on until we actually parked the car at the airport. Then you should have seen his face! I can't believe I successfully lied and kept a secret for 2 weeks! I'm not good at either... but it was so worth it. He was so stunned! Robert and the pilot flew us around for an hour. I got to ride in the back and take pictures. Robert got to do the take-off and help out with the landing and steering. Even the nausea inducing turbulence wasn't enough to steal the smile from his face. I'm not sure how I will ever top this for future birthdays, but I will definitely try. We flew all around East Tennessee, landing and taking off three times while flying over mountains and lakes.

We even flew over this 13 bedroom, $8million house that apparently belongs to Harrison Ford.

It's not his real home- It's in Morristown, TN for Pete's sake. But apparently it's a weekend home for his family. Harrison Ford in East Tennessee. Who would have thought?

But anyway, I'm off on a tangent again. I could get used to this "best wife ever" feeling. I just hope I managed to help Robert get his "best birthday ever." And I may have created a monster, but a certain someone is considering a pilot's license now. I am not opposed at all; he's a natural. :)

Happy Birthday Bobert!

Our New Fur Baby!

2011-02-13T22:12:00.000-05:00

Meet Charles Barkley (aka Charlie). He is a 3-4 year old Bagle (Beagle and Bassett Hound Mix) that Robert and I recently adopted from a local Bassett Hound rescue mission. We found his picture on their website about two weeks ago, filled out a form, and he came to visit within just a few days. From the moment he climbed all 45 pounds into my lap and covered my face is extremely sloppy kisses, the little bugger stole my heart. He's been ours ever since.

He's needy and lazy and requires constant loving affirmations with belly rubs- everything a Bassett Hound should be. We couldn't be happier with him! Even if he does demand that you spoon him while you attempt to nap on the couch and fear your arm will be amputated from the sheer weight of his 15 pound head. And as for Quincy? Despite her "What are you doing to my mommy?!" face above, she loves him too. She's stopped having anxiety attacks and always has a playmate now. Plus we don't feel as guilty leaving her on her own during the day, because she's got a big brother now. :)

Welcome to the family Charlie! <3

Since I promised you pictures-

2011-02-05T12:24:00.000-05:00

I sincerely hope you do not mind that they are random and moderately unrelated. However, this does give you a glimpse into the past two week hiatus I took. In all actuality though, if you want to know what I've been doing I have two words- Dance Team. This week is the last week of our season though, so after Thursday I will be free to have a bit of a life once more. After that half-marathon training will start up, and I should have material worth blogging about once more. As much as I know you guys would love to hear about my shoulder injury from writing on my white board too much, I thought better of doing a post on it. I'd rather not risk losing what little readership I still have.

Quincy has been grand. She still enjoys her daily activities of lying in the sunshine and whining about the cats. She is also still quite the little gross-out as evidenced below...

Yes, that is a wet spot the size of a dinner plate she licked on to our couch cushion for no apparent reason. Don't tell the people we sell this sofa behemoth to on Craig's list about this please. And despite all the lack of puppy hygiene, we are seriously considering adopting another dog. Glutton for punishment much?

My weekends have been the very definition of "uneventful." I tend to wallow in the fact that I have nothing to do for two blissful days, and that leads to a lot of sleeping...

Jogging pants wearing... (pronounced yogging pants, with a soft J)

And banal errand running. Second set of new tires in two years? Yes please. At least I'm not sliding all over the road anymore. It does not, however, lead to any sort of cleaning or even fun cooking projects. My responsibility limit has been reached by Saturday, and the pull to be completely useless is just too strong.

Which I feel setting in again. I'm out of material, so enjoy super bowl Sunday friends!

Death to the Steelers! :D

Just Saying Hi!

2011-01-22T21:31:00.000-05:00

It's strange to think that it's been over a week since I last posted. I promise you- it doesn't feel nearly that long to me. Since all the snow melted away and I had to go back to work, I have been insanely busy. In case you hadn't heard, I am KHS's new physics teacher. This is good because it makes me incredibly marketable in the event we move somewhere else at some point, not to mention they are paying me overtime for once in my life. However it could be considered bad for a few reasons too. Number one: I'm not certified... yet. I almost got certified this summer, but I failed the dang Praxis by like one question. Life is unfair sometimes. But it doesn't matter. Even if I had passed, teaching this course would still require me to re-teach myself while prepping lessons for my students. It's been a long time... However, I am a Super Teacher, and I think I'm doing a great job so far. The kids are getting it, and I even had a student tell me it was his favorite class of the day! :D But anyway... the other reason why it could be considered bad is that I teach this class during my plan period. That means I'm at school from 7:30am until at least 5 pretty much Monday through Friday. Add in a dance team, and I am officially a workaholic.

I'm telling you this in the hopes that you won't mind fewer updates for the next four or five months while I am a slave to Knox County Schools. I am going to make it my goal to update at least once a week, so check back on Saturday's to see what I've been up to. As to the week that you missed, a lot happened that sadly was not photo documented. I find writing long posts with no pictures tends to turn people off, so I won't put you through that. I did go to Williamsburg all by myself for the long weekend to see my GPhi's! (Sorry I didn't run into you Sarah... I did run into two of your classmates though. Maybe I can run into you on purpose next time I'm out that way? I was pretty monopolized by the sorority sisters this round...) And I got a smart phone. Lg Vortex! x-D I'm such a sell-out, I know. I LOVE it though. I really do. On the weight loss front, I finally started losing again after the holiday pig-out. Only down around 3 lbs, but hey- a pound is a pound. One foot in front of the other right?

Ok, so I'll stop babbling for now, and I promise the next time I post I'll have something pretty for you to look at, ok? Thanks for sticking with me friends. Have a good weekend! :)

Better in Threes

2011-01-12T13:38:00.000-05:00

Three snow days this week so far, and it's looking like we might make it four tomorrow. I'm not really sure what to do with myself at this point, but I can say that this post will be devoid of pictures. Why? I will tell you.

1. Quincy has dysentery. Or something like it at least. It ain't pretty because she has (pardon me, I'm so sorry about this) pooped everywhere in our little apartment. At least 90% of our abode is carpeted, so that means two things. First- we have puppy pads everywhere, and second- we will be paying out the nose to get this place steam cleaned and possibly re-carpeted once we move out. This morning Q even pooped on my bathroom scale, and I am talking a direct hit too. As in, it probably took planning for her to do that. I had to disinfect the thing before I could do my weekly Weight Watchers weigh-in. I'm blaming that for the reason I haven't lost any weight this week. I have no idea why, but I blame the poop.

2. I haven't worn real clothes or displayed any type of style since Sunday. I wore Robert's old wrestling warm-ups to dinner at Aubrey's last night. I wore a Snuggie to walk the dog this morning. Clearly, I'm trying to make Glamour magazine's DON'T list by 2012. My neighbor seemed to appreciate my attire though. She put her outdoor smoke break/phone conversation on pause to yell out, "That's the way to do it! Get them Snugglies involved!" (And yes, I meant to write snugglie.) It was the highlight of my day, no joke.

3. I haven't actually got a third reason, but as a wonderful sports announcer once observed after she was in my current predicament- "I've only got two reasons, but things just sound better in threes."

Stay warm friends, and try not to let the cabin fever get to you- clearly I'm failing at that.

TCTC 2011

2011-01-10T16:00:00.000-05:00

I have been working at school so much this week. I went in Monday from 12-6 even though I was technically still on break. Wednesday was the first day back for staff. I got there at 7:30, and I didn't leave until well after 5pm. Thursday was a dance team practice day and the first day back for students. I was in my classroom at 7:20 and I stayed there until 6:30 with the exception of bathroom breaks and lunch. Friday we were leaving for TCTC, so I got in early at 7:30 but I still didn't get out of there until 4:40. I don't even want to think about how many hours that is for a three day week, but I can tell you I have been crabby. I took on an extra class this semester (Physics), and I'm so excited to teach it plus I'm getting paid well to do it. However, I really do feel like I live at the school.

This whole situation has made me very jealous of my husband, who sends me text messages that say things like "Honey! I just flew the helicopter off the balcony!" and "Did you see that facebook status?" Sure, he sends these when he's on his lunch break or at home in the evenings while I'm contemplating building a nest under my desk and sleeping at Karns, but I'm ashamed to say I still sometimes send scathing replies implying that I work harder than he does.

After this weekend though, I can't ever say my husband does not work hard. He took seven teenagers to Gatlinburg for a two-day, 5,000 person convention with only his cranky wife as help. Observe the aftermath here-

We both crashed yesterday afternoon as soon as we got home. He however, had to sit through an elder's meeting before he got to his nap, poor guy. We had a good time though, and this is our 3rd TCTC. We love it! It's the best youth convention out there in our opinion. Lots of singing and concert-worthy stage lights and cameras... Amazing speakers, comedians, and music groups... Very much worth the effort!

This year we were surprised with about six inches of snow while we were there too. I was quaking in my boots about having to drive back in it with four children that don't belong to me, but thankfully God heard my prayer and the roads were clear for the drive home.

The kids loved it! I had to put the kibosh on the sliding around though after two of them busted their butts. I did NOT want to send anyone home broken.

Comedian Taylor Mason was there with his puppets, and our friend Sydney from County Line got to go up on stage! We didn't even recognize her at first, but there she is! In the middle with the snow hat on! Other things about this picture I want to point out because they are funny- On the left is a giant person sized Sumo Muppet. Next to the Sumo wrestler is a little girl wearing several things that I love- a confederate flag tee with a vicious looking wolf head coming out of the middle, topped off with a Real Tree camo hat. (God bless the South! Hysterical!) Finally, the puppet on the right is supposed to be Barack Obama, but I'm pretty sure it's Taylor Mason's George W. Bush puppet painted black. I promise that has no political intention. It's just a completely innocent observation.

My favorite guest at the convention though was a man named Joe Castillo. He's an artist and he does these incredible sand stories. He basically works on a light table drawing pictures in the sand to music while they project it onto the screens.

Check out the details though! So beautiful!

One other note-worthy artist- Charlie Hall was in charge of all the worship songs. Robert and I were already fans, so it was really cool to see him live.

The theme of the week was The Redline. It focused on the direct link from Genesis all the way to Jesus and our place in God's plan. The speakers were amazing, and I felt like I learned so much!

All in all, it was a good (COLD) weekend! Despite the hotel chaos, one case of the stomach flu, and lots of teenage "romance," I really did have a good time. Thanks for taking me Robert! And for doing pretty much all the work. :)

Christmas Recap

2011-01-09T18:59:00.000-05:00

Now that the dust from the first week back has settled and I have survived the Tennessee Christian Teen Convention (post to come), I can finally update you on my wonderful Christmas break. It started with a snowy Christmas Eve drive to my sister Angela's house. We wanted to actually spend Christmas morning with some children (makes it much more fun), so Ang and Kenny let us come crash their family's holiday. There were toys everywhere! We got to help Santa out, and he even surprised us with a stocking so we had something to open!

After breakfast, we headed to Robert's family for our Ashby gift exchange. It was Liam's first Christmas ever! Isn't he so stinkin' cute? He's right around 6 months, which I think is my favorite baby age. Still not mobile, so you don't have to chase them yet, and they love you instantly even if they haven't seen you in months. :)

Robert FINALLY got the remote controlled helicopter he's been talking about non-stop since Thanksgiving. Too bad this one was broken!!! He had to send it back, but he did order another one as soon as we got home and he's had plenty of flight time since then.

I got some nature DVD's for my biology classroom/personal use (read: DORK). I was so stoked about LIFE with Oprah, but surprisingly she is a lack-luster narrator. The beautiful high definition camera shots more than made up for it though. I will never look at chameleons the same way again!

We spent the rest of Saturday with the Ashby's, then had the May family Christmas at my brother's house since the snow knocked out the power at my parents. The kiddos, adult males, and my sister Ang had a lot of fun playing in the snow. Eli and Kenleigh's cheeks were so adorably red! The rest of the women stayed inside with the babies and helped cook.

Speaking of babies- we got a great announcement! My sister Paula is pregnant! I was beginning to think that Paisley (her 3 year old) had convinced them not to have any more children with her hyper ways, but apparently not! I distinctly remember an incident this summer at the beach which involved Paisley jumping off a dining chair towards the glass coffee table while her mom had several heart attacks in the midst of trying to catch her. The oldest grandbaby- Brant asked, "Paisley- What are you doing?" I responded, "Shhh Brant. She's trying to make sure she's an only child." Didn't work though apparently, and I'm so glad! After Paula made the announcement, I asked her if she wanted a boy or a girl, and she said she just wanted one that was "calm." Ha ha! I'll keep my fingers crossed for her. With Anna and Jacob having their second child in June and Paula due in August, we will have seven May grandbabies next year!

After that I think the baby boom will be over though. At least until Robert and I are ready to contribute our own little chubby cheek pincher!

More presents were opened...

The kiddos got a lot more fun things!

And Robert got a Tyrod Taylor jersey! He and Eli were rocking the Tech wear that night. We really do bleed Maroon and Orange- every single one of us!

Paisley got some mermaid toys- her favorite!

And Kaycie had us all laughing with her sunglasses.

Daddy thought Robert and I had gotten him a Jedi robe. (It's a snuggie, Daddy!)

And the girls locked themselves in the cage, I swear! Ha ha ha!

The rest of vacation was mostly spent relaxing or hanging out with friends. This picture is my best friend currently living in LA. She's holding my niece, which is hysterical if you know Abby! Babies are like kryptonite to her, but she did so well with Kaycie!

We went out several nights, including one night to have a five year class reunion at a local lounge. Lots of fun, but alas I did not take any pictures. Sorry! There are so many amazing ladies that aren't pictured in this post, but I think I've gone on long enough. I love you girls! Hope you're enjoying 2011 so far!

Today and Yesterday...

2011-01-04T12:37:00.000-05:00

Let's make a comparison, shall we?

Yesterday's To-Do List
- Don't sleep in too late
- Go in to work and finish all grading for the fall semester
- Clean and straighten classroom
- Move physics equipment from the chemistry store room to my classroom
- Write/Edit syllabi for the spring semester
- Make parent phone calls to students with a 68-69.4F
- Copy for the the first two days of class
- Remind dance team about today's game
- Watch Tech play in the Orange Bowl

Almost everything was accomplished in the 6+ hours that I went to work, and I also managed to order/pick up pizza for dinner and bring Robert his car key when he locked himself out of the cavvy at Advanced Auto. The only thing I didn't get to was the copying part, which I fully intended on doing when I went back to work today.

Now, after Tech's spectacular loss, a not-so-fun run in the cold weather, and too many complaints from teenage girls about how they don't want to go to the game tonight (believe me, I don't want to go either.), I'm kind of at my breaking point. So, here is...

Today's To-Do List
- Sleep in like it's the last time you'll ever sleep past 9am
- Go on the laziest "run" of your life (Hey, at least I went!)
- Decide NOT to go in to work
- Give yourself a pedicure while watching one of the DVD's you stole from Mom's house
- Go to KHS around 5pm for the Bball game
- Spend loads of quality time reading Harry Potter during the game (I hate basketball.)
- Sneak upstairs and do your copying between half-time performances

Think I can handle today's list? I sure do. Off to enjoy my last day of freedom!

2011 Directions

2010-12-31T12:34:00.000-05:00

Resolutions are cliche... but I think I need to do some anyway. I need some direction for 2011 and posting them here will help me remember them. When thinking about where I want 2011 to take me, I know that I don't want to make arbitrary wishes for the upcoming year that would be lost in shades of gray and forgotten by March. Therefore I came up with some basic ground rules for myself. I want my goals to be attanainable, practical, and more than that- measureable. I want to come back on December 30, 2011 and evaluate myself and how I did, so her we go!

1. Get back into running: Too vague as it is, so the measureable portion of this goal will be to run a 10k and a half-marathon this year. The 10k will most likely be in the spring, then the half will be in the fall. I started training again last night and it took me 20 minutes to run 1.5 miles. EMBARASSING!!! I guess that's what happens when you abandon your $100 running shoes for three months, but I will do this.

2. Eat more vegan meals: I call this the two-thirds rule. I want 2 out of 3 of my daily meals Monday through Friday to be vegan as much as possible. So on "normal" days (meaning I'm not out of town or somewhere it's just not feasible to eat vegan), I will follow this rule as much as possible. Now I will say that I'm mainly talking about dairy here, so if an egg finds its way into my lunch, it's no big deal. I don't think I'll ever become full vegan because I have no moral opposition to consuming ethically harvested eggs and dairy. In fact, if the whole world stopped eating those two items, cows and chickens would go extinct. They cannot survive away from humans. However, I think the extra fat I get from dairy wreaks havoc on my body. I feel like a mostly vegan diet would help me reach my weight loss goals, focus my attention on plant based nutrients, sever my addiction to cheese, and just feel "cleaner."

3. Read my bible cover to cover: I probably have read the entire thing in pieces (I grew up in the church after all), but I've never read it through front to back. I need to spend more time on my spiritual life and my relationship with God, and I think this is a no pressure way to do it. My goal will be to read a little each night, and have the entire book finished by the end of the year. If there are some nights I can read more, great. If there are some nights I read one chapter, that's fine too. I just hope I'm not frantically trying to read all of the New Testament in two weeks next December, ha ha!

4. Reach my goal weight with Weight Watchers and make it through the maintenance period: I haven't been updating much about my WW journey, but I will go ahead and tell you that I gained 7 pounds in 7 days while I've been home. Not cool. But what was cool is how I reacted to it. I sucked it up, tracked it, and moved on. So my graph now shows I'm over my starting weight by 3 pounds? Who cares. Don't cry about it, fix it. And I'm now doing just that. Hopefully goals 1 and 2 will contribute to this, but I really need to buckle down and PLAN AHEAD when it comes to my daily meals!!!

5. Become certified to teach Physics and start a Masters program in Curriculum and Instruction: It's time I pushed myself a bit in my career, and this will be the year for that. I will be re-taking the physics praxis this summer, and I'm fully confident I will pass after having the chance to teach the class. My Masters program will start in the fall, and I'll use this spring and summer to decide where it will take place.

Alrighty then! I think five goals will suffice for now. I'll be sure to keep blogging as my one year blog-iversary is coming up very shortly! Hopefully I wont be so busy this spring that I can't touch base every now and then. I hope you all have a great New Years and enjoy the blank slate that is 2011!

Merry Christmas Darling!

2010-12-24T11:28:00.000-05:00

After a brief date with an elliptical machine, packing up the car, and getting the animals ready to go, Robert and I will be headed to Virginia to see this... (JOWLS!!!)

Along with the other five equally adorable, slightly less fat, nieces and nephews, and a few myriad adult friends and family members to boot. I am sorry to say I don't know how much blogging will ensue, but I promise to do a recap on my return after the new year.

Before we leave though, I'm going to dedicate the last blog post of this year to the one person that has changed my life forever in more ways than I could have dreamed. Robert Ashby- This one's for you. (And I'll keep it light-hearted and wise-cracking for you non-sappy types. No worries.)

According to the national average, men do 1/3 of the housework in domestic situations. My husband blows this out of the water completely by doing approximately 99.6% of the housework, including occasionally driving me to school when my gas light is on so he can fill the tank up once he's dropped me off. Never mind that he could have been stranded in Karns suburbia... He made it ok. (Yes, that would be the gas gauge range in the photo below.)

Or accompanying me to the doctor's office when I'm slowly smothering to death from blocked sinuses, then taking pictures of me on his cell phone without my knowledge or permission. Gah, I am so beautiful here, I tell ya!

He's not all pranks though. When we go grocery shopping, he likes to write romantic "backward z" graffiti in the frozen foods section. Awww! I love you too honey. :)

For Christmas, instead of diamonds or perfume, I get trips to beautiful bed and breakfasts with down comforters, fireplaces, satellite television, and a jacuzzi tub. This was our present to each other this year! Braeside Inn in Pigeon Forge- we HIGHLY recommend it! We spent Tuesday through Thursday of this week there and had the best time.

Robert found this little gem all on his own and proceeded to thieve my snuggie and read for a large portion of our time there. It's ok... I did the same thing. Finally finished Pride and Predjudice!

My beloved takes me to Pigeon Forge for barely vegetarian friendly lunch at the Old Mill,

and buys season tickets to Dollywood with me so that we can come back and laugh at the "I gotta pee!" reindeer all year long.

And best of all... Robert rides roller coasters with me despite the fact that they make him look like this...

A great dramatic re-enactment, but I promise you- the original face was ten times more horrified and hysterical. I love you babe!

Merry Christmas Friends!

How to Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater

2010-12-19T22:41:00.000-05:00

Last night was the Coulter Christmas Party which featured an Ugly Sweater Contest at the request of Robert and myself! Normally we would have raided a closet for a holiday classic or shopped Goodwill, but this year we decided to get a little crazy and make them ourselves. It paid off! Robert won! So here is my Problem Half Solved Step-by-Step guide to the perfect Christmas sweater monstrosity...

Step One: Choose your design. You can either make reindeer or a Christmas tree. I rolled with the reindeer, so let's start with that one. First part of making a Rudolf inspired work of art is to make the reindeer's face, so paint the bottom of your foot brown.

Step Two: Squish the painted foot onto the front of your sweater of choice. I chose a $6 long sleeved t-shirt I found in the little boy's section of Wal-Mart. It worked perfectly, but please make sure to put cardboard between the shirt layers or the brown paint will go right through! Also have some plan of attack on getting to the tub so you can wash the paint off... And take your wedding ring off before you paint your hands to make the antlers on your reindeer!

Step Three: Once your lady reindeer is complete, have your hubby repeat steps one and two for the man-friend reindeer companion.

Meanwhile... To make your Christmas tree design, make a pyramid of green handprints all over the front of another sweater type garment of choice. Bonus points if it's off-center!

Step Four: Before the paint dries, sprinkle liberal amounts of gaudy gold glitter all over both designs, concentrating on the reindeer antlers. Prepare to be vacuuming up glitter for the rest of the week and finding that it has spread to the most random locations. As Mary said at the party, "Glitter is most definitely the herpes of craft supplies." It's well worth it though. No ugly Christmas sweater is complete without some sheen. Your carpet will recover eventually.

Step Five, complete the look with black puffy paint accents, a red pom-pom nose for Rudolf, googly glue-on eyes, coy little reindeer smiles, and a nice purple bow to identify the tiny reindeer as a lady and not just... well... little.

Meticulously glue pom-poms all over the tree to represent ornaments, and use a cookie cutter to trace and color in a beautiful yellow puffy paint star.

Step Six: Let dry overnight and then show off your handiwork.

If you really want to give your sweater an edge, add a surprise for the back! A chain of random horse pictures seemed to do the trick for Robert. Please take note of the insane horse fighting picture on the left. Hysterical!

Step Seven: Show off your trophy!

With less than one week before Christmas, I hope your shopping is done and your sweaters are uglier than ever!

Snow Days to Sick Days

2010-12-15T19:29:00.000-05:00

So it is very likely by the end of this week that I will have worked only 12 hours out of a normal 40+ work week. How you might ask? Between the two snow days we got at the beginning of the week to the head cold of death that I somehow managed to develop on Monday night, I am not in the mood to do much of anything. I tried very hard to go today, but left mid-day because I couldn't imagine remaining vertical a second longer. After a painful two hours at the doctor's office and a OTC box of pseudoepinephrine so strong Robert had to get a background check to purchase it, I'm still not feeling better in the least. I went ahead and took tomorrow off as a sick day, but it may turn out to be another snow day instead. We shall see...

Lots of tea and lots of time with my snuggie are in order; however, lots of grading will also take place hopefully. I wanted to spread some good news though before I collapse into a coma on the couch. I weighed in this morning, and I am down one pound for week one! I know it may not seem like a lot to those of you who aren't weight watchers, but it's exactly what I'm looking for. Slow and steady means it sticks. :)

Thanks for your encouragement! Prayers for my sickies please! I'm off to lazy around, whimper, and watch Glee. Please... do try to muster some sympathy. A Bientot! :P

Baby It's Cold!

2010-12-12T15:12:00.002-05:00

I really can't stay....

Baby it's cold outside!

I've got to go away...

Baby it's cold outside!

This evening has been....

Been hoping that you'd drop in...

So very nice!

I'll hold your hands, they're just like ice...

My mother will start to worry...

Beautiful, what's your hurry?

My father will be pacing the floor...

Listen to the tea kettle roar!

So really I'd better scurry...

Beautiful, please don't hurry...

Well maybe just a cup of tea more!

Put some music on while I pour...

I really can't stay...

Baby don't hold out!

Ahh, but it's cold outside!!!

Gearing up for what I hope will be the first snow day of the year with lots and lots of hot tea! Stay warm friends! <3

Going Public

2010-12-11T13:23:00.000-05:00

I've been debating about whether to post this or not, because I know most of my friends that read this blog read for the purpose of being updated on my life and don't necessarily want to be subjected to my eating habits. However, I've decided to start talking about this because I need support. I've tried to do this many times in the past, and the only time I was successful was when I attended meetings and had a place to talk about my journey with friends to cheer me on. So if you don't mind, root for me to make it this time. :)

I am a Weight Watcher again.

There. I said it. For those of you who don't know, this is not my first WW rodeo. I actually came very close to goal and was contemplating becoming a leader when I was in college. I went from my peak weight of 172 down to 140ish before I dropped out due to stress and health reasons. I lost all that weight fairly quickly, and I honestly did not do it very healthfully. While I will never claim to have had an eating disorder, I relied on processed foods and did not eat many fruits and veggies. After I stopped going to meetings and tracking, I gained back around 18 pounds before my wedding in May of 2009. On our honeymoon, my wedding ring (that had been sized at my smaller weight) was so tight I couldn't even wear it. I was furious with myself, and took advantage of living away from home to start cooking and eating better. I tried rejoining weight watchers in the fall of 2009, but I discovered that in East Tennessee there is no way to do weight watchers online AND attend meetings like I did in Williamsburg. I couldn't imagine tracking by hand, so I went to the online plan only. I kept quiet about it for the most part, relying on my on will power and support from Robert to accomplish my goal. Since then, I have gained and lost the same 10 pounds it seems, getting down to 144 at my smallest and hovering around 150 the majority of the time.

During this time period I discovered food blogs, racing, became a vegetarian, and adopted an overall healthier lifestyle, so trying to lose the last 10 pounds on the processed food heavy POINTS plan wore me down. I got tired of tracking, and it wasn't fun anymore. However, I knew that I needed to reign in my eating habits. I am not good at balancing, and I still use food as a reward or comfort. Portion size and cheese fries are just two of the food related weaknesses I have developed over a life of misguided munching, so when I got the email about the new PointsPlus program I saw an opportunity. I took it.

The new plan ROCKS. It's so easy for me to follow, because it's based on good for you foods now and my daily points value is much higher (Purely a mental boon, but helpful none-the-less!). I don't feel the need to buy sugar free/fat free junk to stay within my limits, and I love this. My beloved fruit doesn't cost me any points now (Yay bananas!), and instead of feeling boxed in and hungry, I feel liberated and encouraged! I'm so excited to finally be able to fit into my skinny jeans again. I bought them in the winter of 2007, and I desperately want to wear them again. But more than vanity or clothes, I just want to feel in control.

Now I realize I'm not obese by any means, but I can promise you I'm doing this for the right reasons. I have a very small weight goal that is really just the final capstone in a 4 year weight loss journey, and I know what I'm doing.

Why I want to lose 10 pounds-
1. I want to run a half marathon, and at my current weight my knees can't take it. Losing just ten pounds would take enormous pressure off of them.
2. I want to get to a healthy weight and maintain it before I get older. The longer I wait, the harder it will get.
3. I am going to be a parent within the next decade, Lord willing. That's scary to me, and I need to have my head on straight before I attempt raising a child. I want to develop healthy eating habits so that I can encourage my future children to do the same. I would never wish my daughter to have to go through the yo-yo dieting and eating issues I've dealt with, and I don't want to inadvertently teach the wrong mindset by example.
4. I want to take this opportunity to teach myself that I am doing something about the issues that plague me, and I want to stop the fat talk for good. I have come to terms with the fact that I will never be 120 pounds, but I can not make myself content knowing that I am not at a healthy weight and can be more fit than I am. I want to prove to myself that I can do it.
5. I WILL learn to be comfortable in my own skin by taking control over disordered eating. And once I do, I want to be able to toss the scale for good.

Ok, so I suppose that's enough rambling for today. Thanks for listening!

Oh Ballz.

2010-12-07T15:00:00.002-05:00

What do you do with a container of Earth Balance the size of your head?

Bake Cookies!!!! Or kind of bake them... if you're making Mama Pea's Dough Balls anyway.

I have a problem with my dough balls. The last time I made them, they did not stay ball shaped... so this time, I used very little liquid and had the great idea to freeze them before baking-

But when I let them cool on the hot pan my balls turned to discs. Fail. They were still declared delicious at our ACC championship party though, so onto another type of ball...

Football! Mom gave me this Virginia Tech Pasta, and I decided the perfect time to use it would be during the ACC Championships. We conned Mary and Thomas into letting us come over to watch their ESPN, and in return I bribed them with cookies and mACC and cheese. :D

Cute little VT pastas...

Bathed in cheesy, cheesy goodness...

Leaves you with pure deliciousness! (at 800 calories a serving, don't expect me to be making this often.)

The game was soooo good! A nice easy victory for us, and not stressful at all! I get so on edge when I think we might lose. Too bad for Florida State that their QB was on the fritz with an elbow injury. It was a good game, just not a nail-biter. But I am ok with that, and my blood pressure is too! Orange Bowl here we come! Bring it Stanford!

The puppies aren't interested in the sport of football, only the sport of wrestling.

And spooning... Awwww! Sweet Girls... (Don't be fooled, Q whipped around and chomped on Abby's face about two seconds after I took this!)

While the wrestling antics are fun to watch, the best part about them is when the girls pass out from exhaustion. In fact, I think Quincy still hasn't recovered yet, but she sure does love her friend Abby*.

*I love my friend Abby too. And the rest of you who I would name but there are just too many to list. :)

Happy Birthday Kaycie Louise!

2010-12-06T16:58:00.000-05:00

Over Thanksgiving, we not only got to eat ~~turkey~~ side dishes with our family, we also got to stuff our face with birthday cake in honor of my niece's first birthday! Her actual birthday was last Friday, the third, but we celebrated a little early since everyone was already in town.

My sisters and mom did a great job with the party food. They had a selection of soups and ALL of them were vegetarian!!! This made Robert and I so happy! And none of the meat-eaters there seemed to notice a difference. Probably because cheesy potato soups or bean-y taco soups are universal, something I wish more restaurants/establishments would take note of!

Happy Birthday Baby Kaycie! She got to wear the much beloved "I'm One" party hat. I think every niece of mine has worn that hat at this point, and I'm sure it will continue to be passed on. We even have a blue one for the nephews! :)

My niece Paisley was all about the toys as usual!

And I LOVED the vintage owl them that Ang chose for everything. The invitations were especially cute!

Uncle Lane gives the best "horsey" rides!

and Eli spent plenty of quality time with Granny! I'm so happy he doesn't give me the stink-eye anymore, lol! He has gotten very particular about who can hold him in the past six months, and Robert and I became "strangers" there for a little while since we live so far away. But eventually he remembered that he knew us. <3

I love my babies! (Brant, Kenleigh, and Liam too even though they eluded my camera!) They make me look forward to Christmas so much!

Obsession/Confusion

2010-12-01T21:26:00.000-05:00

Recently, I have been absolutely consumed (read: obsessed) with a few specific things. Number one: memories from Thanksgiving. Loved hanging out with my girls, and I really can't wait to see them in just a few more weeks! I have more pics from break, but they are all from my niece's birthday party and will come later.

Virginia Tech Football! Robert and I shivered our way through the game this past Saturday, but it was so worth it to see the Hokies turn UVA into the Boo Hoo's. :) Although, they knew it was coming. ACC Championships this weekend! I'm already planning my party menu. mACC and cheese anyone?

Christmas and Hot Tea: It has been freezing cold here lately, and I drink my weight in hot tea everyday. The tea warms my body. The vintage cherry mug and Christmas tree warm my soul.

And finally, the main attraction: MY NOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been wanting an eReader for a year now, and I finally couldn't stand it anymore. I wanted to get it for Christmas, but I spent three hours researching Kindle vs. Nook on Sunday. Bad idea. By Monday I was so excited about the Nook that I literally felt my insides were quivering. :D It wasn't even December, and I went out and bought my Christmas present for myself. That's just how I roll I guess, and I'm so glad I did it. It is amazing, and as soon as I wrap this post, I'm going to see what happens to Robert Langdon next in Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol."

Now, along with my obsessions have come some things that... well... confuse me. This morning I went to my car to see this. Snow. Really early snow here in the south I might add. Not to mention that Knoxville does not get proper snow. We get plenty of teaser snow that is just enough to make the roads slick or make it freakishly cold, but not enough to even get us a delay for school. I really hope the snow doesn't torture me this year like it did last year. Go back and read my Jan-Feb 2010 posts for those fun instances of Seasonal Affective Disorder.

And lastly also speaking of Knoxville, why is our fair town mentioned at the end of Elizabeth Gilbert's "Eat, Pray, Love?"

And I quote: "After returning from her travels, Elizabeth Gilbert ended up... traveling some more! Over the past several years she's been back and forth between Bali, Brail, Australia, Wyoming, Vietnam, Laos, Philadelphia, Cambodia, Thailand, and KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE." Which one of these is not like the others?!?! Is it like that in all the books or just the ones you buy here in K-ville?

I'm starting to think it may be one of those publishing tricks that list whatever city you bought the book in so you'll be intrigued and buy the second book. If it is, it worked. Maybe I'll download it onto my Nook... Speaking of the Nook-

EEEEE!!!! Robert Langdon I'm coming!

And so this is Christmas

2010-11-27T22:59:00.000-05:00

Or at least the start of it!

Since it's too late at night (or I'm too lazy, you decide.) to get the T-day pictures off the camera, I'll go ahead and fill you in on what we did before we left. Robert and I made the decision to decorate the apartment for Christmas before we left for Virginia, so that when we got back we could jump right on in to the Christmas spirit. My fourteen year old self would have been horrified with this idea (I used to think it was an insult to Thanksgiving if you started Christmas before it had even happened), but when we came home to a sparkly and festive apartment, I knew it was an awesome decision!

The Piggies enjoyed listening to Pandora's Holiday station while they hung their stockings by the outside of their cage with care...

...and Robert and I took to trimming the tree! Decorating the tree gives me the chance to go back through so many memories, and it's really thanks to my sister. When Robert and I had our first Christmas together as a couple back in 2006, Angela suggested we start the tradition of getting each other an ornament every year to commemorate our time together. I guess she could tell how serious we were about one another, and I am so happy to have the memories. As we were unpacking the years, I got the idea that our ornament tradition would make a fun blog post, but we soon discovered that Robert's half of the ornaments are missing. Therefore, you'll only be seeing my half of the tradition, and I'll put his up later... whenever he remembers to get them from his parents. (Peggy- if you read this and think about it, could you grab them and/or remind us to get them when we're home? Thanks!)

2006- Our first Christmas as a couple. This little chihuahua (my chi-hooo, as I refer to it) was aptly named "Puppy Love." Gag worthy, I know, but you have to admit he's cute. Don't tell the others, but I think he's my favorite.

2007- Continuing the dog theme, Robert chose this "Snow Buddies" ornament. We didn't actually have our first snow day together until 2009; I think he just liked the dog to be honest. :)

2008- We were engaged during this Christmas, so I think I had a bit more say in the ornament this year. I have a small obsession with birds, so I'm happy Robert noticed how much I LOVED this ornament when we went looking that year... See babe? You do pick up on my hints sometimes!

2009- Our first Christmas as a married couple. We didn't actually buy ornaments separately last year. It was an odd month once we decided to move to a new apartment less than a week before we went home for break. The Christmas tree was purchased, put up, then taken down and put away within the same week. Add to that the addition of a dog, and pre-Christmas ornament hunting was not a priority. We ended up shopping for our ornaments on the clearance racks after New Years.

Since we were together, we didn't see the point of buying separate "First year married" ornaments. So for our second ornament of 2009, we went back to our puppy theme in honor of the new addition we had just made to our family- Quincy Tate. <3

Our tree is tiny, fake, cheap, and resembles the end of the toothbrush contraption I used to use to clean out my braces, but I love it. It's ours. Having a real tree in a real house will come later. Until then, this will do just fine.

I hope your holiday season starts off right!

As American as...

2010-11-22T20:31:00.000-05:00

...my first apple pie!!! This Sunday was the area-wide pie social at Blount Christian, and Robert volunteered me to make a pie. I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to use my Better Homes and Gardens subscription and made TWO pies... 'Cuz that's just how I roll, mkay?

Bear in mind- the extent of my pie making consists of frozen pies, store bought pie crust, and one little bitty home made graham cracker crust that was part Fiber One cereal (Thank you, Hungry Girl) and just ok. But for these pies, none of that was going to be good enough. I wanted to make a real pie. I wanted to make apple pie. And a pumpkin pie.

So I did, discovering some things along the way.

Such as- Pie Crust has a lot of butter. LOTS of butter.

Not sure how I managed to get all of that butter worked into the flour, but it involved both hands, a butter knife, and sore biceps.

The end result looked something like this. Not the most beautiful creation ever, but the article said "if your crust is lumpy and ugly with butter bits the size of peas, it's perfect." Ok... If you say so...

Now, if you've been a regular reader, you know my baked goods don't always turn out. (Burnt Olive Bread and Angel Food cake for example.) Since we were four hours out from the social though, there was no turning back despite my fear of the Ugly Baked Goods crown rearing it's ugly head. I dumped the crust onto my very squeaky clean table, and went to work.

I also discovered that rolling dough is not easy, but I was successful. I managed to get the pumpkin pie's crust blind baking in the oven while I worked on the apple pie. My apple recipe called for pastry cream in the bottom of the crust. I have no idea why, but I'm so glad I didn't skip it. The cream was amazing!

After that, I re-discovered that my favorite type of cooking is hands on.

And Robert discovered that his wife could hide a pile of apples the size of his head under a lovely blanket of pie pastry.

And he said it would never work... Hater. :P

In fact, not only did it fit, but I had enough leftover to make a dough heart for the top! Here she is, all glazed and ready for the oven.

While my apple pie was baking, I went to work on my pumpkin pie.

Then after coaxing both pies into my decrepit oven, I cried huge flour coated tears into my brand new Thirty-one apron when I saw what my kitchen looked like. Luckily I married a man who LOVES to do dishes. Well, love is a strong word, but he certainly doesn't complain... no I take that back too... He doesn't complain so loudly that I can't drown him out with a blaring radio in the other room. That's practically the same thing, right? RIGHT?!?

Don't feel too bad for him though... As Robert cleaned the kitchen, I cleaned the bathrooms. I think that's a fair trade.

Finally after several hours, and I mean HOURS, of work, the fruits of my labor were ready. I made home-made whipped cream to go with them, and managed to wait until we had sat through the speaker (Former UT president, Joe Johnson. UT and Auburn jokes for twenty whole minutes? Please don't.) before I started hunting for the knife. We ending up spending the entire pie social eating only my pies, and I even surprised myself. They are better than I ever could have imagined. Seriously.

I have a feeling Thanksgiving back home will hold even more to be thankful for than usual- especially if you're thankful for elastic pants, like me.

After the noms, courtesy of the cell phone. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Six Reasons to Get Excited About the Holidays...

2010-11-17T22:58:00.000-05:00

1. Liam Ross

2. Kaycie Smith

3. Brant Smith

4. Kenleigh Smith

5. Eli May

6. Paisley Murray

I love my babies! I really can't wait to see them all. Even if at least one of them is contagious at all times... <3

P.S. The Smith children's photographs were taken professionally by a wonderful photographer named Adrian Hart. She took my bridal portraits, and she's amazing. Check her out if you live in the Christiansburg/Blacksburg, Virginia area. In fact, there are three bridal photos of me in her weddings gallery on her site. See if you can find them!

Who I Am

2010-11-15T18:53:00.000-05:00

"This is your life, are you who you want to be? This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be, when the world was younger and you had everything to lose..."

- This is Your Life by Switchfoot

I was thinking about home today while walking the dog, and I thought back to some of my most favorite memories. Today's recollection was about my cousin Ashlee and the games we used to play when she came over to my house. We loved to play "house," and we really got into it.

We had these amazingly life like Lee Middleton dolls that served as our babies. I remember that I had a little auburn haired boy named Joseph Tyler after my daddy. We did more than just play with dolls though; we would invent entire lives for ourselves to act out in my backyard. Most days, I was a famous writer, and my blue bicycle was actually a BMW Z3 convertible. I can't remember what Ashlee's profession used to be, but she always drove a really random type of car. Ha! I do remember that much... We would kiss our imaginary husbands goodbye in the playground clubhouse where we lived, and then we'd go off to work on our bikes. Our office was in the garage, and we'd run errands on the way home. We even had a special spot next to the drive way that served as the "bank." How we could pretend to be grown-ups for hours, I don't know. I certainly don't have that kind of attention span for "playing pretend" anymore, but I love imagining how my nine year old self would think of my twenty-three and a half year old self...

I'm not a writer (yet). My BMW is actually a spiffy little Corolla named Caroline that is much more practical yet still just as loved by me. I married the man of my dreams, but I don't have that little baby at this point and don't plan on one for a while. My real life is not the one I made up years ago in my parent's back yard, but you know what? I think if I could go back and tell her about it, nine year old Liz would be stoked about her life. The song that I quoted at the beginning could be extremely painful to listen to if I allowed myself to be burdened by regret. However, it's not hard to listen to. In fact, it is one of my absolute favorites because this IS my life, and I am EXACTLY who I want to be. Not that I can't be improved upon, that's always going to be true. However, I'm very happy with who I am and who I am becoming. And I'm thankful that I can say that; I imagine a lot of people can't.

What would your nine year old self think of you today? I truly hope yours would feel proud of you. Even if they aren't, it's never to late to make a change. Remember who you are. Remember how special God made you. There's only one you in the whole wide world, so be sure to represent yourself right.

Just Call Us the "Crayolas"

2010-11-07T22:37:00.000-05:00

After the craziness/business of the last few weeks, Robert and I decided to make a mad dash to Martinsville for a 27 hour long visit to attend my niece Paisley's 3rd birthday party. It was possibly the fastest trip we've ever made home, but it was worth it to see my... err... colorful (read: quirky) family. :)

Colorful moment number one: my brother's custom made sweatshirt does NOT show a picture of Zach Galifianakis. Nope, that's my cousin, Josh. He's pretty awesome, he's been making me laugh since I was nine-ish, and I'm quite jealous of this bearded piece of pure epic-ness.

In honor of the party's "Under the Sea" theme (Paisley's mom is a marine biologist), the kiddos dressed up as their favorite oceanic animals. Colorful moment number two: Here my niece Kenleigh (dressed as Nemo) sympathizes with aquarium bound fish the world over. Poor Nemo's face...

Little Red grew four more legs to become a petite, toddling, blue octopus. Colorful moment three (and a random fact): the plural of octopus is indeed, octopuses. Not octopi as I have been saying in my Marine Ecology class for a year. My ability to be moronic never fails me.

Colorful moment four: Brantley, dearest- find a dentist a.s.a.p.

And Eli made one shocked looking lobster. Those eyeballs remind me of the Prawn from the muppets. Remember those Long John Silver commercials with him? Hilarious! I need to look those up...

Here's the birthday girl dressed as a shark who has let herself go... Note the strange, spare tire-esque padding around the middle... Yeah, I don't get it either. She's still a pretty cute birthday girl though!

Kaicey, stripped of the octopus costume, showed off her newly acquired walking skills. Colorful moment five: This pained me, and I shed a single tear for her quickly disappearing baby fat. So long jowls! I'll never forget you!

The party took place at a really cool children's museum, so we got to goof off a bit... as if we ever need an excuse to goof off. Colorful moment six: Here's Robert showing you his healing finger in front of the incredibly appropriate (and insanely grisly) scab display.

And lastly, colorful moment seven: my brother-in-law Johnny couldn't resist sending me a picture of the stuffed beaver in the train station/taxidermy extravaganza building across the street. The fact that this fuzzy, double-entendred rodent is my high school's mascot still gives my family fits of giggles.

And colorful moment number eight: I wouldn't change anything.

More Scenes from the Weekend

2010-11-04T21:26:00.000-04:00

Despite Robert's accident, we still managed to make the most of Halloween Weekend. Right now though, I'm very distracted by the Georgia Tech/Va Tech game, so this will be a quick run-through with really adorable pictures. :)

Saturday night, we went for a historical ghost tour through the Blount Mansion Visitor's Center in downtown Knoxville. It was pretty decent. We got to go inside one of the houses briefly, but the speaker was not the best and this rude guy kept putting her on QT about her stories. (By the way, QT = quiet time. As in saying things to make her look stupid basically.)

After the tour, we decided to just do a walk through market square, but ended up going to see Frankenstein adapted for the stage by Roan State Community College. It was a really fun surprise for the evening, and not a bad way to spend ten bucks... Mom and I used to go to those little local college productions all the time, so I really enjoyed it. And if Robert's vicodin had not worn off, I think he would have liked it just as much as I did.

The next day was the church's annual Trunk or Treat. Robert and I rolled with our Ghost Buster's theme, and Quincy made her debut as either a squirrel, a dog being eaten by a squirrel, a two-tailed and eight-legged dog-squirrel mutant, or a headless squirrel monster depending on the angle. She was such a good sport, and only tried to eat her acorn once or twice. :)

Robert's Trunk: The ghost buster mobile with flashing blue light and ghostbuster's theme song on repeat all night long. (Surprisingly we did not get sick of it.)

And her was my trunk... errr... table? Robert wasn't allowed to drive, so without his car, we had to make do. We made a giant ghost out of a chair, table, and a sheet. It looked pretty awesome if I say so myself!

Back to the game and chewing my fingernails out of worry! Bah- Come on VT!!! Go! Go!

Hope you all had a great Halloween!

My Hubby doesn't know how to K.I.S.S.*

2010-11-02T18:36:00.001-04:00

*For those of you unfamiliar, K.I.S.S. is a method for completing tasks. It stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid.*

I know my updates have not exactly been regular, and I'm sorry about that. Truth is- not much exciting happens to me unless you find working all day and coming home to collapse at night exhilarating. Either I don't have anything to blog about, or I'm too busy to even look at the computer that day. I'm trying to rectify this, but in the meantime bear with me. I have a wonderful story for you today. :)

So this weekend was Halloween, and dare I say it was an exciting one? If you're a regular reader, you may have been expecting a race recap on Saturday as the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure was listed in my upcoming runs on my race page. However, you can't do a race recap when you didn't even run the race. Yes, I missed a race, and there was a reason. I will give you a recap of that... Enjoy!

So Friday night was spent at the last KHS football game of the season, drinking hot chocolate, trying not to freeze, and dreaming of my warm bed. On the way home from the game, Robert dragged me to Wal-Mart because we needed some last minute touches for his Halloween costume. The plan was to be a ghost and a ghost buster for the 5k we were running in the morning and make everyone laugh as we ran past chasing each other. I was the ghost, and I am lazy, so my costume was easy. I have the KISS method perfected to an art: Buy white sweatshirt. Buy clearance aisle ugly curtain. Cut hole in ugly curtain and stick head through. Done. As soon as I realized my costume was finished, I collapsed in my race clothes and fully intended on just going to sleep as you see me above. Robert didn't like that, so he made me put PJ's on while he finished his costume in the kitchen. I kept saying to him that he didn't need to put that much detail into the costume, but my husband is ambitious to the point of recklessness. His costume, especially the "proton pack" had to be awesome.

So there I am, minding my own business and drifting off to sleep when I hear Robert yell from the kitchen, "Liz! Get in here quick!" I, annoyed at being woken up, thought that he wanted me to come in and see the dog dance on her hind legs or the guinea pigs jump through hoops. When I asked him why he wanted me, his reply was just five words- "I cut myself. It's bad." I could tell by the tone of his voice that this was not going to be pretty, so I hopped up and ran to see how much damage he had done.

In the kitchen I found my husband pale-faced and clutching his left hand. Apparently he had been cutting dryer wires with our kitchen shears and ignoring my voice in the back of his head saying "Stop this Robert... You're going to get hurt! Keep it simple stupid!" (Although, I'd never think he was stupid. Ambitious to the point of recklessness? Yes. Knows better? Absolutely. Stupid? Nah. Just an occasional maker of bad decisions. That's all.) The scissors slipped with a terrible amount of force and caught the tip of his left pointer finger. I asked him how badly he cut it and he told me that he thought he might have "cut it off." GREAT! This being the same finger his dad cut off with a table saw some years ago, I wasn't exactly surprised. I asked him if he thought he could find the stump, deciding in my mind that we were going to the emergency room if he did. He picked it up off the floor about two seconds later. I grabbed the half inch thick chunk of only skin and nail (thank goodness), threw it in a baggie of ice, literally tossed the dog into her bedroom, wrapped a jacket around Robert, and hurried off to Parkwest ER.

I didn't really know what to expect at the ER, but I was calm and Robert was... relatively calm considering the circumstance. I misspelled about eight words on the intake form, fumbled sleepily for my insurance card, and tried not to let Robert see how grossed out I was when I finally got to look at his finger. The CNA's at Parkwest weren't so subtle. Robert quickly became the "man with the finger," and I swear we had 3 or 4 different aides in there to "check his wound" in about a fifteen minute period. I especially enjoyed the younger blonde female CNA that gasped in obvious disgust every single time she saw the wound. She was also the one that disinfected the cut with about eight extremely painful saline packets, so I don't think Robert was quite the fan. My efforts to bring in the stump were in vain however, because the doctor couldn't reattach anything. He covered the wound in what can only be described as an "Instant Scab" called Surgi-seal to stop the bleeding, and he did this with no anesthetic. Robert almost passed out and/or threw up from pain at this point. We thought we were home-free! Not. Right before being discharged, we discovered the Surgi-seal did not work and my husband started to bleed big fat drops of blood on the hospital floor all over again. That was when I almost passed out and/or threw up.

After two more layers of Surgi-seal and a compress from an ER nurse, we finally got out of there, grabbed Robert's Vicodin prescription for pain, and managed to make it home by 2am. A 3.1 mile race in 5 hours? No. Not happening.

So we forfeited our race entry and decided to "sleep in" for the cure instead. Robert got up the next day and went right back to work on his proton pack proving in my mind that he never learns, but the finished product looked pretty awesome. I guess it was almost worth the 4% of his finger that got dumped in the trash at the hospital that night.

My costume though was equally as awesome, didn't require much effort, and left me with all ten fingers intact.

Clearly I am a good K.I.S.S.-er.

Because it's almost here...

2010-10-26T18:46:00.000-04:00

Ghost-ey Quincy says "Happy Halloween!" Doesn't she look creepy?

Now I want to carve a pumpkin. Or maybe just eat one... in pie form of course.

Mind Tricks

2010-10-25T20:25:00.000-04:00

I promised you baked goods, and you shall get baked goods.

Oatmeal is a hot commodity in our house. It's very versatile- banana oats, baked in bread, overnight oats, and when you're dying for a cookie but don't have any butter, it makes a decent breakfast cookies.

Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies from my new website obsession since Weight Watchers kicked me off their site: SparkRecipes.com

Ingredients- 1 cup of oatmeal, 1/3 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp cinnamon, pinch of salt, 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 egg white, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1/4 cup raisins or nuts or chocolate chips. (I totally did chocolate chips.)

Mix your dry ingredients together and then whisk together the applesauce, sugar, egg, and vanilla.

Combine wet with dry and stir to combine. Fold in any add-ins you want (ahem! chocolate chips).

Shape into five mounds on a baking sheet that has been lightly oiled or sprayed with pan spray. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. When mine came out, they looked like this...

Oh dear. Not very pretty, and I'm not so fond of my "Ugly Baked Goods" crown. What to do? Ah! Mind tricks... Muah ha ha!

Pretty plate + Pretty rug + sunshine = decent looking cookies.

There you have it. My little hobby is blossoming, and I'm finally getting into "real"-ish food blogger/photographer mode. So what if taking pictures of your desserts on the floor of your living room is slightly bizarre? I've never pretended I wasn't bizarre, so you can't blame me for it. Besides, the cookies were marvelous and made AWESOME healthy little breakfasts. Enjoy the recipe! :)

Self Entertainment

2010-10-23T11:03:00.000-04:00

It's just me, myself, and Quincy at the Ashby abode for today. Robert's been at a church leadership conference since yesterday morning, so I've been finding ways to entertain myself!

Like nixing the idea of making healthy pumpkin pancakes for breakfast and instead choosing a pumpkin cupcake with cream-cheese icing and an apple. Same thing right?

Or deciding that visiting the Coulter's for dinner last night would be more fun than appearing stag at our apartment complex's Halloween party, then playing with Mary's new icing piping bags on said pumpkin cupcakes. Beautiful no? (There you go Sarah! Reader's Request: Cupcakes! :-p)

And as always, Quincy has no problem entertaining herself when Abby is around! She came home exhausted and covered in Sheltie drool. Come to think of it... that's how I came home too! (I kid. I kid.)

Enjoy your weekend! I'm off to the farmer's market and the mall to do some more entertaining, then I'll be back with some recipe posts this afternoon.

Happy Love Your Body Day!

2010-10-20T17:26:00.000-04:00

I've been crazy busy, so I haven't had time to blog or material to blog about. But today is National Love Your Body Day, so I think it deserves a little attention.

I love my body because...
   - it allows me to run races and feel strong.
   - it lets me hug friends and kiss loved ones.
   - it is super awesome and adaptable. I love being able to see changes.
   - it has some killer curves.
   - it's the only one I've got!

Why do you love your body?

Some Season Sightseeing

2010-10-16T16:40:00.000-04:00

Happy Fall from the Ashby Family! We went to Cade's Cove yesterday to see if we could see a bear. Nope. No bears. Plus we got lost, but there were plenty of leaves!!!

We had a good time. And just look at our silly pooch. Always sticking her tongue out! Hope you're enjoying your October!

The Queen of Ugly Baked Goods

2010-10-14T22:38:00.000-04:00

My fall break plans got turned upside down this afternoon. Robert went to hug me, then stepped back with a very concerned look on his face. He asked me if I felt ok, and when I looked confused he told me I was burning up. I took my temp- 100*F. Holy Mess! I NEVER run fevers. In fact, I usually run a little cool. I called the doc and they said as long as I didn't feel really super sick there was no point coming in. Apparently you have to be 101* or higher to count as a "real fever." Whatever. Needless to say though, an 8 hour drive I would have been making alone is not in my future anymore. I know if I stay here, I'll probably end up feeling fine. But if I go, I'll probably get super sick out there and have no way home. It's kind of how my life works. Whatever I choose is usually wrong. I'm super sad because I feel like I'm letting my sorority family down, but I know they understand. At least I hope they do. (Love you ladies, I really do!) I'm going to go in January when I have a random Monday off for President's Day or something. I'm bummed, but I'll make the best of it.

Earlier today, while I still thought I'd be leaving for the weekend, I decided I needed to do some refrigerator clean up. Robert doesn't really cook when I'm not here, so I needed to use up some things before they went bad. First on my list was a whole mess of CSA veggies. I made a stew in the crock pot, but I have no idea how it turned out yet. It smells good though.

Second on my list was 24 eggs that Bert bought for the church picnic egg toss. Needless to say, they were never used, and I don't throw out animal products if I can help it. Twenty-four eggs? Totally stumped... I made french toast, but that still left me with twenty-two!

I did some research online and- Aha! Angel food cake to the rescue! Now being a culinary maverick (or just a culinary nerd), I know that angel food is not easy. I wanted to do it anyway, so I gathered all the ingredients and jumped right in. How could I go wrong with an Alton Brown recipe?

I let the stand mixer do the hard part- twelve egg whites + super fine sugar + cream of tarter...

Will give you this! Looking good. Looking good....

I carefully scooped my batter into my bundt cake pan, and thought I was home free at that point. The hard part should have been over.

Or not... I put my cake on a rack that was too high in the oven, and it puffed up and burned against the broiler coils. Fail. Maybe the inside looks ok?

Nope. Still pretty fail-tastic. For some reason, my cooking is always slap-dash. I make a huge mess and the presentation is never right. How this next point comes to be, I don't understand...

No matter how ugly my cooking is, it tastes really, really good. Does that fully redeem me?

After all, that's what really counts right?

I love this man.

2010-10-13T21:53:00.001-04:00

He is amazing- That is all. Have a good night!

What I haven't been blogging about

2010-10-12T18:27:00.000-04:00

Robert and I ran 5 miles yesterday! It was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be; and even with all the stops and knee brace adjustments, we finished in 1 hour! Not bad for the farthest we've ever run.

So in all the Disney World aftermath, there have been some fun things in my life that I didn't get a chance to blog about, so I'd like to catch up now. First of all- while we were in Disney, Karns was celebrating homecoming. I was very sad that I missed the faculty skit, but I got to help some by choreographing the dance. (An amusing you tube video came out of this. Let me know if you care to see it.) The lovely beaver cave woman below was my contribution to the faculty hallway competition. I didn't draw her, but I did color her. I spent way too much energy on perfecting her, but isn't she awesome? We won by the way. :)

Two weekends ago was the annual Teacher Appreciation Weekend at the Gatlinburg Ripley's attractions. Robert and I went with Mary and Thomas and had a really good time! Here's Robert with the statue I entitled "Startled Eagle." No really. Look at it's face! (The bird, not the husband's)

Robert and I on our way to the "Swangin Bridge." Which, by the way, is exactly how they would say it out here. I doubt they even intentionally misspelled "swinging." Love it!

After the "odditorium" and the VT football game, we made a mad dash through the aquarium to see the penguins! So fun! Although they were all pretty much asleep since it was 9pm. In the Penguin playhouse, they have a bunch of ways to be quasi-interactive with the penguins. Mainly it is just tunnels you can crawl through to get to a little viewing area in the exhibit. There were no adults in there at the time, but I have no shame. I crawled in with all the kids, and it was absolutely worth all the raised eyebrows.

This weekend we visited the farmer's market to pick up our CSA share. If you're unfamiliar with Community Supported Agriculture, it is a wonderful way to get fresh, local, and organic veggies for cheap (and in our case- to make yourself try more green things). At the beginning of the season we bought a share of the farm, and then each week we go get whatever they have for us! We've gotten popcorn, turnips, alfalfa sprouts, green beans, tomatoes, green peppers, apples, cabbage, squash... you name it! It's been a really fun way to up our veggie intake and try new recipes. Plus it's just cool to pop fresh popcorn on your stove; then chow down knowing it was grown 20 miles from our house.

We tried a run before the market (hence my attire), but it turned into a walk since my ankle was sore. Still running one mile, then walking a little over one more makes you thirsty. Mmmm fresh squeezed pomegranate lemonade!

Q likes the market too. Lots of new smells and dogs.

Beautiful local art for sale.

And those really cool name puzzles my mom got my siblings and I when we were kids.

The market was a ton of fun, but there was so much I didn't get to buy or try. I would love to sample the home-made ice cream or breads, but I guess that will have to wait another week! I'm headed to Williamsburg this weekend to visit with my Gamma Phi Beta Fish! :)

Weight Gain doesn't have to be a Souvenir

2010-10-10T17:27:00.000-04:00

So, I have one post left from Disney, and I'm sorry I forgot to throw it in with the others. I wanted to talk about the food a bit. I try to keep this blog from being all food and exercise, but eating is one of my passions so I can't help but mention it. Humor me, please.

I know I read that Mama Pea went to Disney Land and had no problem whatsoever finding good vegan food to eat, but I'm sorry to say Robert and I didn't have as simple an experience (and we are only pescatarian). Now, the food was amazing and we didn't go hungry, but seeking out healthy meat-free options wasn't exactly a cinch unless we wanted to eat cheese pizza for every meal. I was also nervous about gaining weight while down there. Usually vacations spur a breakdown in my normal eating routine which leads to gastrointestinal issues, tight pants, and regret. I wasn't going to let that happen this time, and I actually managed to come home about a half a pound lighter than when I left. Essentially maintaining, but considering I was eating dessert on a regular basis and not running, I think that's pretty good. So here is a brief look into our experience with the Disney Dining Plan.

We each got two meals and one snack per day. A meal included two drinks and an entree at breakfast; or one drink, one entree, and one dessert at dinner or lunch. A snack was anything you wanted in the park- drink, ice cream, popcorn, fruit, chocolate croissant... you get me.

There are two different types of meals at Disney- table service and counter service. This is an example of the table service meal we got at Mama Melrose in Hollywood Studios. This was for all intents and purposes our first real meal at Disney, and we started off on the right foot by sharing/not cleaning our plates. I ate all the fish and most of the veggies for example, but I left a third of the orzo and half of the dessert.

This was a typical breakfast and counter service meal. Lots of water and going easy on the sodas was helpful, although I had to use a snack credit for that fruit cup. Wasn't happy about that. A Mickey-shaped waffle and bacon is not a good breakfast, dear Disney. I should at least be able to sub the meat out for something! (An issue we ran into frequently. Can a girl get an apple around here without paying extra?)

The table service meals were a bit more accommodating. This was the pasta dish we got at the Whispering Canyon Cafe. There were absolutely no vegetarian options on the menu, but the chef was more than happy to make us some pasta with veggies. It was delish! (A good example of Disney redeeming themselves.)

Here was one of our snacks. Typically we got a bottle of water with one credit and a snack to split with the other. This was a Dole Whip Pineapple float- pineapple ice cream in pineapple juice. Very yummy, and Momma was obsessed with these.

S'mores cheesecake... *Drool* Oh dear. The dessert alone could derail you at this place! But then again, it's not something you want to miss out on either. This was phenomenal! Robert and I made sure to share (with each other only, everybody else was sick), and just decided to enjoy ourselves! I walked a lot, and as long as I didn't leave the table stuffed I didn't think I had done too much damage.

For our counter service meals, Robert and I tried to split the entire meal depending on how hungry we were. The portions were huge! So this is what my plate ended up looking like most of the time. Such a waste, so splitting was a good idea unless we were starving, as you shall see below.

Quick reminder- we walked a lot. A Mickey waffle only goes so far, so sometimes a meal like this...

Ended up like this. Gotta listen to your body right? :)

And a final lesson- don't leave your coffee mug near a 10 month old. It's a bad idea.

So to sum it up- 1. Split your meals when practical. 2. Leave a little on your plate. 3. Walk a lot. 4. Enjoy yourself and don't stress. 5. Keep liquids away from infants. That is all!

How I motivate myself to go running...

2010-10-09T10:24:00.000-04:00

I have received several comments on facebook about my foray into racing, all positive, encouraging, and often telling me that I'm a little inspiring to those who want to get into the race circuit. Now I hesitate to write this, because I don't think I'm a perfect example of anything and "inspiring" is a scary word. However, I did want to do a post on how I went from a couch potato to a 5k racer and beyond. (Well I'm working on the beyond.)

The people that have been complimenting me on my progress have been saying such things because they know me. I have a pretty lazy streak. Growing up, I detested anything that involved physical labor, and although I played tennis, marched in the band, and danced; I never was much of an exerciser. Watching TV was way more fun. But here's the catch. Even though I wasn't a "runner" per say and when I went "running" I spent more time gasping and trotting up Beaver Ridge than anything, I always wanted to BE a runner. I just never thought I had it in me. The fastest I ran a mile was junior year while playing tennis. I ran a 9:45 for gym and ended up being the second fastest girl in the class. I was really proud of that, but to be honest- that mile seemed torturously long. Distance running was not my thing.

This all changed after reading an article in a magazine one day. It talked about how women always look at athletes and think, "Why can't I be like that?" Then instead of being inspired to try, they end up getting down on themselves and giving up. The article challenged me to think "Why NOT me?" instead of "Why can't I?" the next time I found myself in that situation, and they were absolutely right. Why not me? Why should she be able to run a marathon and I can't? I'm in good health. I have two strong legs just itching for some training. I WANT to run, so what am I waiting for? That was the beginning of something magical, but it took me a while to get there. Key point though- I never quit on myself. I might be 80 when I run my half marathon, but I won't quit.

In college, I tried to get more into exercise, but I avoided the gym and dabbled with running as a way to soothe my anxiety/panic disorder. My runs were sporadic but nice even if there was no goal attached. When Robert moved to Williamsburg for a summer internship, we exercised a lot together; and I think marrying him has been a big step in getting me into the race circuit. (Although, I was the one that approached him about our first 5k.) Now I'm not saying you have to get married or have a significant other to run, but having a friend to go with you or run the race with you is a great way to get through those first few months of training. You can keep each other accountable, and it makes the miles go by much quicker. We also got a dog, so that's another option if a human companion isn't available. Truth be told though, we outrun her these days. :P

Finally, when I hit a wall with training and was feeling unmotivated, I got creative. I knew rewards were a great way to encourage myself to just get out there on days when my mind was iffy about going. So I typed up a training schedule, hung it on the back of our front door, and highlighted each run that we went on. It's not perfect. Sometimes we miss runs. Sometimes we miss entire weeks, but we keep trying. And this week, I keep trying for Maroon 5. You see, my reward is that each run completed equals one iTunes song download. Maroon 5's new album is out, and I want it really badly. However it has 18 songs, so I have to complete 18 runs before I can download it. I'm on my way with 11 runs banked, so I hope to have it within the next two weeks. Every afternoon when I'm tired and just want to be lazy, I see my chart and I think about being one day closer to "Misery." (The song, not the emotion- how ironic!) And then I get my butt out there.

Does it work? Right before Disney, I ran a 9:30 mile. Fifteen seconds faster than I did when I was 17 and playing tennis for the school. I also think running 3 miles now is a piece of cake, and I'm working my way up to 6 miles. Is it working? You decide. :)

Disney World Part 3: Animal Kingdom

2010-10-04T22:08:00.000-04:00

Welp. Marie Claire- You're a bunch of idiots. How can you bring down the healthy living community in an extremely biased and untrue articles, but have articles featured in your magazine linked at the bottom for a "10 day detox" and other get skinny quick crap? Now THAT'S healthy. Thanks. We appreciate your biased opinions because hopefully, it will drive more traffic towards the real, healthy, inspirational women behind these food blogs and away from your skeletal, air-brushed models. Epic Fail.

So what do you guys think? Is it possible to have a healthy role model these days? Are we ever going to get away from disordered eating and into healthy, happy, body accepting lifestyles? I can tell you that my health and self esteem have improved ten fold since discovering the food blogs. They got me into racing and introduced me to community supported agriculture (more on this in a later post) and new vegetables. They help me feel environmentally responsible by bringing to my attention just how little we know about what goes onto our plates and into our bodies. I commend these women for everything they do and congratulate them on accomplishing their dream jobs. No one thinks twice about paying millions of dollars for people to act or model or play a sport; why do we question when someone makes a modest living from a blog or a bakery business that they built from the ground up?

Anyway, now that I got my controversy of the day out- I'll conclude our Disney Trip. The last day was spent in the best park ever- Animal Kingdom!

Here's Daddy in front of the entrance. I was so excited!

The Tree of Life!

Of course the first thing we did was grab fast passes for Escape from Everest and then head over to the Harambe Safari Ride! It was amazing! I thought it was going to just be driving around looking at animals, but they worked in a story line with poachers and a baby elephant. We were being "shot at" at one point!

Here are some of the animals we saw- Rhinos and Cranes

And a Man Cub! Just kidding. :) But it was interesting having to ride with the little munchkins in our laps in the 90* weather. I had Kenleigh, and she would not sit still!

We still loved it though! I'm sure Africa would have been even hotter, so it just added to the realism I suppose.

Giraffe!

And a newborn elephant! (A real one too! Not the fake one featured in the poacher story line.)

After the safari, we walked around to the animal exhibits on the walking trails.

There was a baby gorilla! She was only seven months old and had just that week begun to walk around on her own for the first time! So adorable.

Robert and I played with pictures a bit more. I think that was the most fun part of the trip- taking pictures. Another reason why I love being a blogger so much!

We were headed to the Nemo show when we passed Timon! He didn't have a line, so we took our picture with him. He's the only character we got to do that with, so it was a really lucky break since we didn't want to stand in line.

The Nemo show line was really cute. We went early to get good seats, but we took some pics with the character signs on the way in. Fish are friends... but I still eat them occasionally. Sorry friends. :(

Right on little dude! I wish people realized how much we are affected by what happens out in the big blue.

Once inside we played around with posing pics with the decorations. Here's Robert "blowing bubbles" with the stage decorations.

The costumes and puppets were incredible! Here's the aquarium gang.

And Marlin + Crush! Crush was so cool, but taking pictures was hard because there wasn't any flash allowed. They were always moving, so these are two out of probably ten pictures that actually weren't blurry.

After the show Robert and I went over to Rafiki's Wildlife Reserve. It was all about rainforest conservation and endangered species. I could have spent a lot more time there, but we had reservations at Boma- the African food buffet at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

We spent a little time at the petting zoo, and then headed back to catch the parade. Right after I took a picture of Robert giving Baloo a high-five our camera died. *So sad.* We have no pictures of the lodge or dinner, but I assure you- it was amazing. Robert and I still have four un-used non-expiring park tickets left! Can't wait to go back!

Disney World Part 2: The Magic Kingdom

2010-10-03T15:50:00.000-04:00

After finally having a restful night of sleep, we got up Friday morning to head to the Magic Kingdom. Classic Disney, here we come!

We took the monorail from the parking lot to the entrance of the park.

Brant entertained us on the ride over. :)

When we got there, we found the whole place decorated for Halloween! Earlier that week, the rest of the gang had gone to Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, which sounded like a lot of fun! Too bad we weren't there yet and couldn't join them. I was looking for an excuse to dress up like a Disney Princess all week, and I had missed my chance!

Once inside, I made a bee-line for my favorite ride: The Haunted Mansion. It was just as cool as I remembered! Although, the ghost in your cart at the end was a lot more convincing when I was six. Still a lot of fun! Robert enjoyed it too, and we didn't even have to wait in line long at all.

After the Mansion, we headed to Treasure Island to ride the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. We saw Goofy on the way in, so we creeped a shot of him with a bunch of kids we don't know. We actually did that with a lot of the characters. ;) The ride was neat because they had added the characters from the movie to the animatronics. Johnny Depp appeared many times in the story line as well as among the mannequins. Even Captain Barbosa and Davey Jones were represented! It's a fun little boat ride through several pirate scenes, although I found the "Bride auction" scene a little sexist? I'm mildly surprised Disney left it in there.

I showed off my pirate pride in the gift shop...

and then we ran into the real Johnny Depp outside!!!

(Ok, so he's not the REAL one, but oh. my. gosh. is he not the most convincing impersonator ever?)

After our pirate adventures, we headed over to Tomorrow Land to find the new Monster's Inc. ride.

The laugh floor is a really neat 4-D show where the characters on screen actually interact with the audience! They'll pick people out of the crowd (i.e. Hey! You in the blue polo!) and then use them in the show. It was so cool, and I know if I was a kid I totally would have thought it was real.

Inside the waiting area to get into the show, they had all sorts of Monsters, Inc. props to make it seem like you were actually in the company. This was the former "Scarer of the Month" wall that was converted into the "Monsters of Comedy" feature. As you can see, Mike was a good choice for our show's MC (Monster of Ceremonies, that is!)

We left the show and headed towards the teacups. We found them, but didn't ride because the line was too long and we were hungry. We had some "tea" with the landscaping instead...

challenged King Arthur's throne, and then grabbed pizza at Pinocchio's restaurant.

After lunch we rode on Snow White's Scary Adventure, which wasn't scary at all. It was just Snow White's story as seen from a car on a track. We said "Hi!" to Dopey on our way out.

We made our way back to Mainstreet, and stopped in Cinderella's Castle. The mosaics on the inner walls are beautiful! And I think it would be really fun to eat at the restaurant someday when we go back, just to say we did.

After viewing The Hall of President's with Paula, Johnny, and Paisley, we emerged to discover that it was pouring down rain! We decided to wait out the storm at a shooting range and spent a couple bucks to do some target practice.

Once it cleared up, we headed towards Mainstreet USA. We had really early dinner reservations, so we wanted to be near the exit so we could watch the parade, then leave and quickly meet up with everyone. I hung out with Minnie and Walt on the way over.

We grabbed a snack, and then parked ourselves on the street to watch the parade! It started out great, but it began to rain again soon after the Muppets had passed by. All the characters walking the street had to run for cover, but they let the floats roll on.

Here's Mickey! "You said it!" (I bet you never noticed how much he uses that catch phrase. Listen for it next time you see a Mickey cartoon, lol! It's kind of funny, because I don't think normal people could say that in real life. :P)

We left the parade and headed to the dock to catch a ferry to the Wilderness Lodge for our dinner reservations. There was a fake geyser near the pool at the resort, and no one was really sure if it actually erupted or if it just steamed ominously. One man said he'd been there all week and hadn't seen it go off, and my dad joked that somebody upstairs had to flush a toilet to get it to work. We didn't have time to find out if that was true or not.

Dinner was... interesting. I expected it to be a really nice restaurant, but the server's were very loud and mildly obnoxious. They were great service wise, but randomly they would make you stand up and do the hokey pokey or yell yee-haw or who knows what else. Also, don't ask for ketchup whatever you do! To get it they make you yell across the restaurant to the table that has all 10 bottles of ketchup, then they have to get up and bring it over to you. Ridiculous! Robert and I were hoping to eat in peace after spending all day around the kids in the park, but we appreciated the novelty. It was definitely fun for the little ones. They thought the ketchup thing was hilarious, and at one point the servers brought out stick horses and the children had a little race.

After dinner some of us were going home and some of us were going back to the Magic Kingdom, but we took a little time to explore the resort while we waited for the ferry.

And discovered that the geyser does actually work! Still don't know about that flushing theory though...

Bert and I headed back to the MK and were happy to see that they took down the giant crane that had been behind the castle all morning. We took advantage of this and shot a pic of the two of us in front of the iconic building.

Then we ran into Tiana! My college room mate and I used to talk about how Disney needed a black princess all the time, and here she finally is! I have such a soft spot for her because every time I see her, I think of Ashley and sophomore year. I was very impressed with the actors at Disney too! They look so much like the characters and they even sound just like them! They practice their autographs so their names match the character's personalities. I think it's incredible and can't imagine how much time goes into rehearsing for something like that.

We wanted to stay for the fireworks, but we were warned about the crowds by my family. They said it took them 2 hours to get home the night they stayed, so we just watched the electrical parade and then headed to the shuttle. It still took us a while to get home, so I'm very glad we didn't stay for the 9pm fireworks! We needed to rest up for our final day in Animal Kingdom.

Disney World Part 1: Hollywood Studios

2010-09-30T22:54:00.000-04:00

Last Wednesday as soon as I got finished with school, Robert and I rushed to the airport. Needlessly it turns out because even after a leisurely dinner at the airport Ruby Tuesday that included TWO orders of crab cakes (because the first ones fell apart? I said don't bother, but the manager insisted.), our plane was delayed. We spent the extra hour sitting in the rocking chairs and watching take-offs until Delta got there. Then we had to literally sprint through the Atlanta airport to catch our connecting flight. So much for no marathon training on vacation!

After landing safely at the Orlando airport, we caught the Disney's Magical Express straight to our hotel at the Disney Caribbean Resort. Super easy, but it was so late. We were exhausted by the time we got to the hotel complex, then we had to wait on a second hotel shuttle to take us to "Jamaica" where our room was located. It was a long day for sure.

Our room was decorated like Nemo! And no matter how comfy our beds were and how worn out we felt, neither of us slept much because we shared the room with my Mom and Dad who snore like bears. It was at least nice to lay in bed listening to my music on full blast and staring at the ceiling. I'm being sarcastic if you can't tell.

At 6:20am I couldn't take it anymore. I got up and went exploring. Took a bunch of pictures of the hotel complex, watched some resort cranes poking around the sand, and took advantage of the lovely sunrise in a hammock swing.

We headed to breakfast two hours later once everybody else was up. We got the Disney dining plan for the week, and the food was good. I'll talk more about it on a separate post, but we sure didn't go hungry! Brant and the rest of the gang were really excited to see us, and we were happy to see them too! I just wish they hadn't been sick so I could have cuddled with them more.

When we were ready to go, we found out my family had rented two minivans (guess we didn't have to wait on that hotel shuttle after all...); we piled in and drove to Disney's Hollywood studios. When we got to the parking lot, we got to see some sky-writing evangelism! :) This was only one of several things the plane wrote, and it was really cool to watch. Brant was fascinated of course!

Here's the entrance to the park.

We couldn't resist a picture with the famous Tower of Terror! Robert refused to ride it with me (he hates going up and down), but I grabbed a fast pass for it anyway because I knew someone would go with me later! Fast pass is such a genius system. You grab a ticket with a time, and as long as you come back after that time, you get right on the ride. Hardly any waiting in line!

After grabbing fast passes for the Tower, we headed over to the new Toy Story Ride. We actually waited for this one because Brant was so excited about it. (We were too, so I can't blame it all on him.) It was an awesome ride! Like a mix between a 3D ride and an arcade game. You had a little space-like gun thing that you had to point at big screens and shoot different objects for points. I know that's probably incredibly descriptive, but I hope you get the picture. Robert scored higher than I did at the end, but I was trying to help poor Kenleigh who was too short to even point her gun at the screen properly. By the time I realized she didn't care, I was too far behind to catch up.

Mr. Potato Head entertained us in line, as did the decorations to look like Andy's room from the movie. Could I photoshop my face on this poster? Is it sad that I want to?

Outside the ride, some of the Toy Story characters were gearing up for a mini show! They grabbed a line of about 15 kids and taught them some Toy Story Physical Training. Ha! Brant and Kenleigh doing push-ups and pretending to pose with bazookas was really entertaining. This army man was actually doing an impression of Justin Bieber when I took this picture. Spot on, eh?

Hollywood Studios is full of special effects, including life-size areas of San Fransico made of optical illusions. This street wasn't actually a street at all. It may have been 100 yards, but it seemed so much longer.

Here's Ang in front of a famous San Fran Hill, Golden Gate Bridge included! Pretty cool and convincing, right? That "hill" is entirely two dimensional though!

After playing around in the streets, we went to one of the places I actually remember from the last time I went to Disney at 6 years old- the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" playground! Brant and Kenleigh really liked the film canister slide, although I'm not sure they know what camera film actually is...

Lunch was at Mama Melrose's: a sit down table restaurant next to "Pizza Planet."

While Robert and I waited for all 15 of my family members to reassemble and be seated at our table, we went exploring in the muppet stores. He got cozy with Kermie...

and I fell in love with the most adorable mouse ears ever! I would have come home with these if they hadn't been $18.99. Disney- you are expensive!

After lunch, we managed to all stay together and head to the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Extravaganza! Really cool, even if I still haven't seen the movies. (I know! I know! It's on the bucket list ok?) After this, we went to the 3-D muppet show and explored some sets.

After that we went to one of Disney's famous street parade block parties. The parades were so cool! I honestly think they were one of my favorite parts of the trip. We parked ourselves under Mickey's Wizard hat to munch on chocolate covered frozen bananas and watch bugs dance.

Then, it was finally time to go to the Tower of Terror!!! I have been waiting for this ride since I first saw the commercials as a little kid, and I loved EVERY SECOND! It was so much fun, and Ang and Kenny rode with me. I adore the feeling of my tummy in my throat, but it makes poor Robert sick. He had promised me a roller coaster though, and he ended up surprising me by riding them all! The Tower was the only thing he refused. I'm so proud!

We regrouped again, and headed to one of their newer shows. It was a car stunt show that was really cool, but nerve racking in my opinion. I have an irrational fear of automobile collisions, so watching them chase and jump and skid had me on the edge of my seat... but not in a totally enjoyable way!

Character sighting! Hey Mike Wazowski! Love your work! Monsters, Inc. is quite possibly the best Pixar movie ever made. (Next to UP! anyway. Unfortunately, no parks featured anything from that movie surprisingly. No Wal-E either.)

We detached ourselves from the May family masses to head to what Bobert had been slightly dreading all day... the first roller coaster of the trip. As you can see, it turned out great! This would be my awesome husband after he conquered Aerosmiths' Rockin and Roller Coaster! He actually really enjoyed it!

Since it was just the two of us at this point, we grabbed dinner and then set off exploring. Loch Ness Lizzie anyone?

"I'd like to thank God and my family and all my fans for helping me receive this Academy Award. You love me! You really love me!"

He says Bill is his "homeboy."

And while neither of us are fans of reality TV at all, we did stop to watch the finalists in the American Idol type show they have here. You can actually try out and compete, then the winners from all six shows compete to be Hollywood Studio's American Idol during the finale. A middle aged man in boots and a cowboy hat named Jerry won after he sang "Boot Scootin' Boogie." We were definitely pulling for him to beat the cookie cutter teenage pop stars he was competing with! Jerrrr-ry! Jerrrr-ry! Jerrrrr-ry! Such originality, but unfortunately the girl in this picture is not him. If you couldn't tell.

At night, the parks get even more beautiful. Disney has a fireworks show every night in practically every park, and my family wanted to stay for the show "Fantasmic." However after realizing we would have to stand in line for two hours to go to the late show and remembering that none of us even liked Fantasia to begin with- we opted out. I grabbed one last shot of Mickey's Magic Wizard's hat all lit up and beautiful, watched the kids while Ang and Kenny rode the coaster, consoled a distraught Brantley after he epically failed at the claw machine in the Pizza Planet arcade, and then headed back to our Nemo room to sleep like babies despite the logger competition happening one bed over.

You're getting Sleepy...

2010-09-28T22:29:00.000-04:00

...Very sleepy. And truly- I am. But I'm going to put off bed for just a bit so that I can keep my promise to update more often and tell you about the hypnotist show that was over a week ago at this point. (Take a deep breath from that huge run-on sentence.)

So, truth be told, I have ALWAYS wanted to be hypnotized. The comedic hypnotist that came to William and Mary every August was my absolute favorite special event, and the idea of hypnosis fascinated me. (Probably because he kept saying it felt like 6-8 hours of sleep, and really- it does.)

I was the absolute last volunteer that was called to come up. I had to jump up and down and practically stand on my head to get him to pick me, but so be it. I have no shame anyway which makes me perfect for a show where a stranger commands you to embarrass yourself in front of a crowd. There's me. Back right, rocking my VT gear after our first win of the season.

He began to do his thing. I honestly don't remember much of what he said, but I know he told me to think of a place I loved and let my body relax. I thought of the monkey hammock on our porch on a cool evening and made my tight, anxiety prone muscles chill out. I was really nervous, because I knew hypnosis doesn't always work. There was a reason he pulled twenty people up on the stage; some of us were not going to get it. As we became more and more entranced, the lady next to me dropped her head onto my shoulder. I didn't care. I was in my hammock swing. But it did make it a little awkward when he told me my "arm was light as a feather and would begin to float up." It did. And apparently I snuggled the ladies hair a little bit. Ha ha! Clearly I was under, so here we go! Let's have some fun kids!

At this point, the hypnotist came to me said "when I wake you up, you won't remember your name," and proceeded to snap at me to get my attention. My eyes fluttered open as he said "Hi! What's your name?" I blanked. I'm not even kidding! Take a look at my face there. I had no clue. I knew I knew my name, but I just couldn't think of it. Like song lyrics you're trying to remember from a tune you loved as a kid. It's there... but it's not there. My confusion was obvious. He praised me, pushed my head down, and commanded "Go to sleep." I did.

And sleep we did. On our neighbors. On ourselves. Completely limp. Completely listless. It was a wonderful, beautiful thing.

Until he gave us our first command. "Every time I say the word 'Knoxville', you will believe the person next to you farted and it smells awful! When I say 'Tennessee' You'll believe that I farted. And it smells even worse." Here he is telling the man in the yellow hat how much he "loves Tennessee." See my reaction. Now I know you're all probably wondering if I was hallucinating a smell. I wasn't. I didn't actually smell anything, but my body automatically reacted like it did. Because that's what he told me to do. And I had long since decided in my subconscious that everything he said was the truth. I know in the back of my mind, I knew I was on a show; however, it's hard to describe the way you feel. I really felt the way he told me to feel. I'm sure I could have broken my concentration and walked off the stage at any point, but as long as my mind wanted to stay hypnotized, it did.

He pulled certain people out to do funny skits like "be Garth Brooks" or "dance like Lady Gaga." I wasn't one of those, but here are some of the things we all did together. At this point he told us to imagine that we are watching a movie, and it is the funniest movie we have ever seen. My subconscious replied with uncontrollable, gut busting laughter. I was gripping my seat and rocking back and forth I was laughing so hard! (Sorry the pics are blurry- no flash was allowed. It would have broken our trance like state.)

Almost immediately after our funny movie, he changed it to "the saddest movie we'd ever seen." I cried real tears. I sobbed so hard. I practically choked when he said a "puppy just ran out in the street and got ran over." (Cruel, cruel man. I know.) "Lady Gaga" in the pink hat to the right and I cried together, and every fiber in my being was absolutely distraught. Even though I knew it wasn't real.

To cheer us up from crying, we danced to the Sponge Bob theme song. I'm really good at that, because I do it without being hypnotized. ;)

Then, as the show was coming to a close, he put us back to sleep and told us that when we woke up we would realize that we hadn't actually been hypnotized. The hypnosis hadn't worked and we had actually paid $1000 to be on stage. (Not true at all. I only paid $9 and that was for my fair ticket.) He told us we were going to be upset and disappointed and angry with him, but that we couldn't be aggressive. When he woke us up, this is what I did... TICKED. I say that word describes my look. I can think of another similar one that starts with a P, but this is a family blog and that's a questionable word in some circles.

He took us one by one and let us give him a piece of our mind. Here is me thinking about how I've ruined our lives by spending $1000 to do something that didn't even work. I was thinking of our trip to Paris this spring and how 1000 bucks was a plane ticket that I had just wasted. I felt like a moron, and I was on the verge of tears again.

Then he woke me up for the last time. And told me to remember everything. As realization dawned on my face, I can't really describe how I felt. Swim-ey is the best word I can come up with. Like after sleeping 6-8 hours and waking up not quite refreshed, but awake none the less. I slept like a rock that night and continued to be relaxed for about 48 hours. Amazing. Loved it. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Now do I believe in hypnosis? Yes. But I think it's something you have to willingly surrender to. No one can control your mind without your consent, but when you give them access to your subconscious you can feel it. You react to it. Bizarre things occur. Well worth $9.

Fairs can be sketchy...

2010-09-27T17:49:00.002-04:00

I fully intended on blogging while at Disney, but Robert didn't bring his computer! Blame him! Ha! I have a ton of catching up to do, so I'll start where I left off. I just finished up the fun part of the fair, now I wanted to get into the questionable bits.

I love animals. I love everything about them. I love to study them, I love to pet them, I love to look at them. I just don't really like to eat them, and I especially don't like to feel like they aren't treated with a little dignity. As a biologist, I know it's natural for people to domesticate and eat animals, but cruelty is cruelty no matter what species you are.

It started out so innocently with show goats, happily munching on straw. I didn't feel bad for them, because I knew their pens at the fair were temporary.

Then we got to the Ponderosa Petting Zoo exhibit, which I had been looking forward to. However, when I got there I was horrified by what I found. There was a really large pen in the center with goats, and sheep, and a couple tortoises. Again, I didn't think anything was wrong with this because they had so much room and the people were feeding them. They seemed like they liked it. They are domesticated after all.

However, around the outside of the larger pen were much smaller pens filled with animals you don't typically find on a farm. Like these south american cavvies and the two silver foxes below.

Their cages were just too small in my opinion. The camel (un-pictured) and zonkey looked absolutely miserable. You couldn't get close to them because they would bite you, and it was just so sad.

This was a little duck pond they had where the ducklings were taken up a hill on a conveyor, crowded on top to try to get food that was dangling just off the edge, and then systematically pushed over the slide by their pond mates to start the cycle all over again. It's the closest thing I've come to seeing the infamous dancing monkey on a leash, and I just didn't see a point. I would have enjoyed just watching the ducklings swim, so I felt like they were being tortured for our entertainment. Again- sad. :(

This is the zonkey. He's half zebra, half donkey, and they had him in a cage where he could barely turn around. No one could interact with him because he was so stressed and miserable, he would have bitten you instantly. All the joy of seeing the animal was ruined at the sight of his inadequate care. I only hope that they treat him better at the permanent petting zoo.

Lastly, we went to see rabbits and chickens that were for sale/show. The rabbits were cute and seemed content, but I thought the bird cages were a little cramped. Luckily I don't think they spend their time in cages that size for very long. They are actually very lucky compared to factory farm chickens that don't even have room to stand up. It made me thankful that I was a vegetarian.

I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer; it was just something that Robert and I discussed a lot. I don't enjoy seeing animals that aren't appreciated by their owners, and I figured discussing this difficult topic could help shed some light on why I choose not to eat these animals. I promise the next entry will be a happy one though, because it will be about the hypnotist. Then I'll talk about Disney!

Fairs can be fun!

2010-09-19T20:32:00.000-04:00

It's amazing how during the week I have NOTHING to blog about, and then at the end of the weekend I'm so swamped with footage I have to split up the posts! This weekend will be coming to you in three parts, fyi.

Last night, Mary, Thomas, Robert, and I went to the state fair at Chilhowee Park. The fair comes every year, but this was the first time Robert and I have gone. I imagined that it would be a lot like the Salem Fair back home, but it was a lot bigger. Here are some highlights, and I'll try to keep it mostly pictures because there are a lot.

They had show goats on display for you to see and pet. It was fun to see all the different breeds.

This is an odd ear-less goat. Apparently it's a type of breed though, because he wasn't the only one without ears. Weird looking though...

Robert and I got to try out "American Gothic" in honor of the farm theme for this year's fair. (Bert looks more like an elf than a grumpy old farmer...

Here's us overlooking the rides. We didn't actually ride anything because it costs too much money. We were looking for two things- free entertainment, after admission of course, and fried oreos. (Eeee... Check out how sunburned my legs are! More on that later...)

Mary and I of course wanted to go in the Discovery Center and play with all the science-y stuff. The displays were out-dated and mostly broken, but we did find some gems. Here's Robert performing the "money shot" in the space ship/black light room.

The cosmic arcade was a really cool demo of how we can collect sound and radio waves from space. You stood at two dishes across the room and whispered to each other; it sounded like you were standing right next to the other person! Really cool.

There was a petting zoo that I'll post more about in the Fair Pt. 2 post, but I wanted to show you this funny picture of the goat standing on the tortoise.

Finally found our fried oreos! Yum yum!

I hate to say it, but almost everything is better dipped in pancake batter and deep fried. I stuck to my plan though and only ate one. Didn't plan on the several bites of Mary's funnel cake that I stole, but hey- you only go to the fair once a year.

Near the end of the evening (before the hypnotist show that I will post about separately because I actually got to participate!), we stumbled across a "Bedazzle your Bra for Breast Cancer Research" contest.

They were crazy! And very fun to look at.

This cow one was really cute! Bobert wanted me to stand behind it like I was wearing it, but the coat hanger got in the way. Ha!

Here was "Best in Show." Really cool and very creative!

Speaking of breast cancer research, if you'd still like to donate to our October 30th Race for the Cure 5k, you can do that here.

Arrrrgh Mateys! Hope ye be enjoyin yer annual "Talk Like A Pirate" Day! If ye don't? T' davey jones' locker wit ye! Swab the deck and shiver me timbers!!!!

They're back!!!

2010-09-18T16:49:00.000-04:00

Not gonna lie- I started today's game off with a stomach ache and tears in my eyes. 17-7 already? Come on guys! No defensive line, whatsoever. Ryan Williams out with an injury... Not a happy camper.

And then "Second and Forty" happened! ECU got three penalties in a row that pushed them back 40 yards from the first down line, and apparently that's what it took to get my Hokies to wake up and play some football! Because if you can't hold them on second and forty, you're asleep on the field!

I've been screaming so much the last 20 minutes that I'm hoarse! My neighbors probably hate me from jumping up and down so much, but I don't care! I have hope in our season once again!

Final score after two huge defensive interceptions and two huge touchdowns in the fourth quarter: Hokies 49- Pirates 27

Let's Go Hokies!

source

Really?

2010-09-13T19:49:00.000-04:00

OK- this veg head is about to get on her soapbox...

If you haven't heard about it yet, Lady Gaga wore a dress made of raw meat cuts to the VMA's and claimed it was in support of gay rights. She said that it was symbolic of the thought "If we don't stand for what we believe in, we don't fight for our rights, pretty soon we're gonna have as much rights as the meat on our bones."

First thought- Is that even a coherent statement? How does that make any sense at all?
Second thought- Perverse imagery aside, how is that directly related to your cause as a gay rights activist?

I really don't get it. When I first saw the dress and the meat bikini, I thought they would be a take on America's over-dependence on meat and the subsequent factory farms, e. coli outbreaks, animal abuse, and slaughterhouse horror stories that have come to be so Americans can have their big macs. If you think The Jungle solved the slaughterhouse issue, think again. THAT would make sense to me... as long as the meat wasn't real, and dear goodness I hope the meat wasn't real.

Don't get me wrong- I think the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy was pretty bogus; however, I also think Gaga was using it as an excuse to pull another publicity stunt. Most of the time, I don't mind her publicity stunts, in fact- I'm a fan of her music and individuality for sure. But really? That's just disgusting. And a completely misdirected waste of animal life and resources.

That is all.

Apple/Jewelry Party

2010-09-12T21:15:00.000-04:00

I just spent an hour making up a really simple dance to Miley Cyrus's "Can't be Tamed" for our faculty homecoming next week, and I am super sweaty! Blarg! No idea why either, the dance isn't hard at all, but maybe I was just having fun? I LOVE the skit I helped write. Sadly I will not be able to participate though, because we will be in Disney World for Homecoming Friday.

Speaking of Fridays, this past Friday I invited some friends over to celebrate the start of fall with an Apple Party! I'm not sure what an apple party is, but I saw one in my BH&G magazine and it seemed fun. We just had apple themed food, and my AMAZING HUSBAND decorated the apartment in wonderful fall fashion. My friend Denise also came over to sell some premiere jewelry as a fundraiser for my dance team. I'm pretty sure she's going to swear off working with me though... I don't think I even broke $100 in sales. I'm a terrible salesperson. I really am!

Denise had a beautiful spread though!

And we all had fun being models... Here's Amanda showing off the magnolia ring (plus a billion other things)

And then Mary was my "model" that I had to dress in 2 minutes. She looked good, but we were at a disadvantage. Janette, our minister's wife who loves jewelry and wears it all the time, was dressing Amanda in our little 2 minute competition.

I got to model jewelry as the hostess and clearly had fun with all the bling.

Denise even taught us the proper way to model rings. Don't I look like a natural? :) We had fun! Wish I had sold more, but I'm learning. If you're reading this and need some beautiful jewelry for a good cause- let me know! The dance team gets 20% and I need $40 more in sales! Pretty please? I'll love you forever! (But then again I'll love you anyway, and you know that...)

At least it's funny!

2010-09-11T20:41:00.002-04:00

"His giant ambling confidence hushes down all my inherent nervousness and reminds me that everything really is going to be OK. (And if not OK, then at least comic.)" - Eat, Pray, Love

Today started with much excitement and has been up and down ever since. I've been exhausted and elated; terrified and content; full of hope and full of disappointment. But in the end I've managed to make everything that's happened today funny, and being able to laugh makes it all OK. :)

We woke up this morning slightly before the sun to gear up and fuel up for the 2010 Marine Mud Run. (Which I am now referring to as the Mud Apocalypse of 2010 for reasons soon to be realized...) I checked outside and noticed it had been raining, so I glanced at the weather to help me decide whether or not pants were a good idea. It seemed like it would be relatively cool all day with intermittent rain clouds, so I decided on my jogging pants to prevent my legs from getting all cut up and started on breakfast.

I split a nanner with Bobert, like we normally do. However we only have chocolate peanut butter, so our protein this morning was leftover cheese from my jewelry party last night. The grapes I saved for post-run.

Oh dear. Driving over there it started to pour down rain. And when we got there, they directed us to the bottom of a grass hill to park. Robert was very nervous about this and started to rant about what a stupid idea it was. I, in my naivete and trust of all armed forces, said "Relax! The marines know what their doing. They won't let us get stuck down here!"

The starting line ended up being very far away from our car, and with the rain and no friend spectators, we had to leave the camera behind. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of us in our complete muddy glory, but I'm hoping they have some from the event's website. Bert and I were in the first "non-competitive" wave, and we took off up the starting hill at a nice pace. The hill was easy after all the training we've been doing, and I was ready for our first obstacle. We got to some plastic tunnels that we were to climb over and immediately were held up by people having difficulties. So much for keeping a time... The timing chip was really unnecessary. We weren't passing anyone on these obstacles.

Robert stayed with me the whole time to help me on the obstacles. I didn't need him but once or twice though, but I loved running with him! We climbed over the tunnels as soon as it was clear, crossed some logs, and then zig-zagged our way around a mowed course in a grass field. The next obstacle was wading through waist deep water, and when I came out on the beach I realized my jogging pants were a HUGE mistake. They soaked up every last drop of water they could, and suddenly my slightly less than 150 pound frame was carrying an extra 15 pounds of weight. Running was pretty much out of the question, so I hitched up my pants, gathered them in my fist, and performed a kind-of crippled run/walk hobble towards the next obstacle. We traversed a bunch a mud hills slipping and sliding the entire way until we got to a huge mud pit. We waded through and emerged with an additional 5 pounds of mud. After that we had another mud pit where we had to crawl under logs, a slippery hill we slid down on our butts, a crawl through those tunnels we had climbed over, a second wade through the lake, a hill called "the gut buster" that completely destroyed me, a climb over a marine wall, and finally a belly crawl through a mud pit underneath criss-crossing ropes that was absolutely the worst obstacle. Thankfully, the finish line was down the hill from us at that point. I "Steve Erkle'd" my pants and dashed towards the end. We splashed into the lake to try to remove the coating of red mud, and then took our turn under the fire truck hose's shower. We finished in an hour and 21 seconds and in the bottom of our age groups. We didn't really care though. It was our first time, and there was NO WAY I could run in those twenty pound pants. We even considered trading pants at one point, but decided we wouldn't risk the indecent exposure arrest... Ha!

Finally we got back to the car and tried to clean off as best we could. As you can see, we were still pretty muddy as my top USED to be grey... I was pretty elated at this point and looking forward to a hot shower, but my elation was short lived.

Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE (4-wheel drive included), was stuck! There was no way we ever thought we'd get up that hill. The marines were pushing cars and a tow-truck with a wench was on the way. We debated calling Mary to come get us and picking up our car later, but we decided to try to get out anyway. Robert ended up pushing two cars out of the mud, then he got some guys and started to push our car. I had to drive and it was terrifying! I don't even like driving when it's not raining, and here I was- stuck in mud for the first time and surrounded by cars I was sure I would slide into. God was looking out for us though, and we made it out of there. Poor Bobert got more of a work-out pushing cars than from the actual race, and I accidentally sprayed him with mud. :(

Poor Guy. He kept his spirits up though, and he was very happy to be back at the house.

We threw everything that had gotten muddy into the washing machine (Ew.), ran to Panera for lunch, and then sat down to watch what we HOPED would be an easy win for Virginia Tech against JMU. I fell asleep and woke up at the beginning of the 4th quarter to a game score that was way too close for comfort. We were only up by 4! JMU managed to score a touch-down then a turn-over and kept us from catching up. We lost 21-16 to a team we should have shut out. Last time we played them, we beat them by over ninety points! I was sick with disappointment. Our guys may have been tired from the Boise State game on Monday. They may have been hurt by the rain and the wind. They may just suck. I don't know, but I guarantee you JMU will make a t-shirt out of this just like William and Mary did last year when they beat UVA. And I think the Tech football players should wear the shirt so they never forget what this feels like. So this season may not be a good one after all, and that is heart-breaking. But I'm trying to be happy for JMU; it was a huge win for them. And I made myself feel a little better by picking on a good friend from high school, Charlie. :) It's his fault that we lost. Don't ask me how, but it is his fault.

And just to add icing to the cake of a sucky-comic day, I think I stress fractured my foot again. It was sore before the race, so I don't think it's anything the mud caused. However, I'll be wearing this little beauty on my foot for a bit. But my ouchie meant that Bobert took me shopping for dressy tennis shoes to wear to work so it won't hurt anymore. New shoes? Yes please! All in all, it was a pretty good day. I'd definitely do that mud run again, but next time I'm wearing stretch pants! And as for Tech- we'll just have to see how things turn out next week. We can't win them all! (But I'm hoping we win some!)

And because I can't post without mentioning 9/11- I have cried every year on this day for 9 years, and I will cry every year until I die, I'm sure. 3,000 people lost their lives this day, and that's an unthinkable number. Today before the run, we had a moment of silence and saluted the flag. Even though the announcer proclaimed that everyone knew what had happened today, I couldn't miss the child behind me say "What? What happened today Momma?" I wonder if he'll ever fully understand. I wonder if he should for the sake of the future, or if he should be spared the horrors we witnessed that day. To all the families out there who lost loved ones and to all the Americans who remember- God Bless Us. God Bless the USA.

Not much going on...

2010-09-09T19:58:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to do a quick (and very random) update since it's been a few days since I posted! I wish I could post everyday, but with the way my job is right now it's just not practical. Plus I don't always have info that I think you guys will find interesting.

This week has been a whirlwind. Getting back into the swing of things after a long-weekend is surprisingly never easy, and I'm an idiot who always over schedules myself. Tomorrow night I'm hosting a Premiere Jewelry party that I hope people will actually come to... It's looking like it may be me, Mary, Denise, and a dozen apple cupcakes. Oh well! Can't say I didn't try, right? I'm terrible at parties. And I may surprise myself by actually having people come and prove that my ability to socialize is not stunted and inept... we'll see.

On Tuesday, Robert called me over to look at something hanging in the tree outside our balcony... Take a looksie! (Unless you're Beth. Then, don't look.)

Yes. That is a dang SNAKE SKIN. And a HUGE one at that! I usually don't mind snakes as long as I know where they are and I can see them. So of course, I was frantically searching the branches for the culprit so I could keep my eye on him when we found...

Another one! On the ground below the tree! Now, there can't possibly be more than one HUGE snake in that tree, so evidently (I HOPE!) somebody has a pet. Somebody likes to throw their pet's shedding off their balcony. Gross. They're both still there by the way. Not. Cool. :(

After the snake madness, Robert and I reviewed the ads we put on Craig's list to sell some things. Our ginormous entertainment center that we hated because it's heavy and impractical would not sell, so we put it up for free if someone would come get it. Thankfully, they did. And voila- New living room set-up. Robert likes it a lot. I'm getting used to it. I'm just really excited that the extra space in the spare 'oom means I can get an elliptical for when it gets really cold. :D

And to just put a cherry on top of the randomness of this post- I wish you all could enjoy s'mores the way I do. And I wished I enjoyed runner's yoga as much as I enjoy my chocolatey-marshmallowey treats, because that's what I'm doing next. With much randomness and love, I bid you adieu.

Oh and Congratulations to my friend Jessica on her brand new Baby Girl! <3

Much better than Fireworks!

2010-09-05T21:07:00.000-04:00

Right now, (practically) everyone in Knoxville is by Calhoun's on the River gearing up to watch the fireworks at the 2010 Boom's Day Labor Day Weekend celebration. Robert and I attended this Knoxville tradition last year, and found it to be crowded beyond our comfort level. Too many people, too many expensive food vendors, too many lines. Not nearly worth a 30 minute fireworks show, even if it was pretty cool. So this year, we are skipping it, watching it on TV, and doing so many cooler things!

Spent time in our new-to-us hammock swing, aka my "monkey chair" while wearing my favorite pants in the entire world- my "yog pants".

Sold our old television on Craig's List and bought a new one from Sam's. (Robert's excited about the HD. I really could care less about any of it unless a Tech game is on. Monday Night! Bring it on Boise State!)

Bought an extra nightstand for Robert's side of the bed so that our room is "balanced." Now when will we put pictures on the walls? Not sure if we'll ever get around to that.

Indulged my adoration for the one thing standing in my way of veganism: Cheese Fries and Ranch Dressing. (Which I will be making at home from now on. These were wayyy greasy despite the googley eyes I am making in this picture. And I kept crunching into things I'm sure were bits of chicken tender breading. *Gag*)

Took the puppy for a Sunday afternoon drive with the windows down!

Hiked by a lake...

... and enjoyed the beautiful nature surrounding us! We walked for about 5 miles and ate dinner on a bench near the trail. It didn't end up leading anywhere really cool, but we did have a great time!

Especially falling down this hill. Yep- that's me. Sliding on my butt in the dirt because there was no other way. It was steeper than it looks, I swear!

See? They even warned us it was steep! Too bad we found this sign AFTER I so gracefully tumbled down the slope.

Ended the hike with some Booty on the Daaa-yum! (Norris Dam.)

And couldn't resist making smores in the oven after walking by all those camp sites. Go ahead and drool. It was as delicious as it looks...

I hope you all are having safe and wonderful labor day weekends! Tomorrow is the first VT game of the season, and we will be celebrating at Mellow Mushroom. Let's go Hokies!

Race for the Cure

2010-09-05T14:18:00.000-04:00

Robert and I signed up for an unexpected 5k today! We're running with our church in the annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on October 30, 2010. We didn't set an official fundraising goal, but if you're feeling generous and/or you know a breast cancer survivor, here's a link to our donation site. We'd love your support!

Race for the Cure- Ashby

Thanks so much in advance!
Liz and Robert

Apostle 13

2010-09-04T16:17:00.001-04:00

When I was a little girl, I used to tell my momma that when I grew up I wanted to be the first lady. I know that probably goes against all feminist values because I wanted to be the support system and not the actual president; but the thought of throwing parties, decorating the west wing, having influence and behind the scenes access was so attractive to me! Well, I'm not the first lady, but I have to say- I think I came really close. Being a preacher's wife puts me at a level of influence that is both scary and exhilarating. I have the chance to influence so many lives without the pressure of being in the pulpit. And after this week, I am officially a minister's wife because...

Robert graduated last weekend from Johnson Bible College with a BS in Bible and Church Leadership!

All smiles because he did it! I laughed and told him his diploma actually read "Take this and get out and stop taking all of our scholarship money. Love, JBC." Robert worked really hard for four years, and he managed to graduate cum laude. Not gonna lie- I was jealous. I graduated from William and Mary by the grace of God. :)

Look who made an appearance during the commencement speech! Robert's favorite show- Mythbusters

The whole family came out to celebrate, but Robert's side only got to stay for a day. No worries though, we came home that Saturday for Robert's ordination. (An ordination is where he becomes an official church minister... in case you didn't know that.) Dean asked Robert if he wanted to be ordained as an evangelist or something else, so I suggested Robert ask to be ordained as the thirteenth apostle- a.k.a Apostle 13. Ha! Robert's response? "Oh so I'm the one that doesn't make it eh?" My reply: "Yeah, but they made a movie about you and nobody died!" Oh my goodness, we had way too much fun with that... until we remembered there was already an apostle 13 and 14 for that matter. Apostle 15 just wasn't as fun, so we went with General Minister.

We take this stuff super seriously, I swear!

We stayed with Robert's parents after a very special dinner meeting I'll be telling more about later, and Sunday morning I was stoked to wake up and find figs in the fridge! I have never had a fresh fig in my entire life, and Dean had gotten some off a tree in a friend's yard. Holy shrimp! They are delicious! I ate a bunch straight from the bowl, and I cut the rest up to put in my oatmeal. Yum yum yum!

Church service was all about Robert. ;) He was ordained right after communion, and then Dean's sermon was about where our life will take us from here. It was super sweet because Robert's dad was so proud of him! We all were! I cried, Mom cried, I had to elbow my Dad when he nodded off (ha ha!), but he was still proud!

I'm so happy for him, and I'm especially happy to be by his side through his journey as a minister. Being a minister's wife is much less pressure than being the president's wife, and it's just as much, if not more, fun.

I love you Bobert!

Friday Night Football

2010-08-30T21:25:00.000-04:00

School + Too Much Traveling + No Time for Running = This.

I'm really, really, really missing my daily run. It's been so hot outside though, and when I get home my mind wants to run but my body is like "No way!" Tomorrow we are going for sure though!

Anyhoo- sorry I'm going out of order. I know I told you Robert's graduation would be the next post in my catching up series, but I decided to add his ordination to that and the pictures just aren't quite ready. Next in line- Friday night football! This past Friday we had our first home football game at KHS. It was fun, but hectic! I was sewing together a skirt 10 minutes before everyone was due at the track. And we lost. And we fumbled the ball nine times... but hey! Who's counting?

I was there for these ladies. :) My dance team! I'm so proud of them and they look so darn cute in their uniforms. My choreographer and I think the skirts ended up a wee short, but who cares- they're wearing seriously opaque tights and shorts underneath.

Robert also came with me and tried to teach me what a screen was and a bubble play or something like that... As much as I dearly love football (and I truly do), I can't ever keep those play names straight. (Go #29! That's one of my freshman from last year. He asked me to wear his jersey because I'm his favorite teacher ever. Sorry I missed his JV game tonight though! Hope it was better than the varsity one!)

And I think I'm going to keep this post short and sweet so I can get some rest and be fresh for my students tomorrow! Y'all have a happy Tuesday. Go Beavers! :D