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Merry Christmas friends!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Day with family and loved ones.

Let’s catch up. I’ve got lots of pictures to share today!

We have had a really rainy week.

Brooks got his Chrismas bath.

They love each other.

Daniel has been a busy elf, building lots of presents.

Check out his brand. He even had an etsy shop at one point.

Mom and I went on a Christmas Eve walk.

We saw this cute little guy.

We wrapped all of our gifts yesterday and Brooks helped us out.

We celebrated Christmas with my family last night, which meant …

1) Fire (even though it was almost 80 degrees).

2) Grilling.

3) Sautéed veggies (I cooked those all by myself).

4) Bows on our heads.

We have been wearing our bows for as long as I can remember. It’s tradition.

5) Lots of laughs.

Daniel is straight up obsessed with his new Christmas hat, which I think looks like a cross between Cousin Eddie from Christmas Vacation and the Mutt Cuts van from Dumb and Dumber.

6) Sweet memories.

My favorite gift of the night was the framed magazine spread from the December issue of Runner’s World that Daniel designed for me (with help from Mike at Lyon’s Share).

We woke up this morning and got in 10 Christmas morning miles. I tested out my Fitbit Charge. It was pretty off on the running miles, but hopefully that’ll correct itself at some point.

Now we are headed to see Daniel’s family.

Brooks got bored after about the first 20 minutes.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Talk to you soon!

What a year it has been!

I didn’t start the blogging adventure until mid-year, but I wanted to go ahead and do a recap of the entire year, so that I will have it later, when I am old and gray and not remembering things very clearly.

January

2015 started off with a bang! In mid-January, I ran the First Light Marathon relay with a fun group of friends. I ran the 10K leg in 39:06 (an unofficial PR). I’m not sure what the runner’s etiquette would say on this. I feel like I can’t count this as a PR since my time isn’t separated out in the results, but regardless, we set a new course record and had fun doing it!

At the end of January, on what I would have to classify as one of the best days in my life thus far (definitely top 10 at least), I won the Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans Marathon. What in the world?! I totally didn’t see that one coming. I ran a good for me time (it was an 18 minute PR), but not a time that typically would’ve won this race. I don’t feel like I have to qualify myself here, but I just want you to know that I know I am not an elite athlete. I have some lofty aspirations, but I am nowhere near reaching them at this point.

I have debated writing a full-blown race recap of that race just for fun (and posterity) and while I could certainly give you my mile splits, at this point, I don’t really remember a whole heck of a lot from the actual race. I do know that I passed the 1st place girl somewhere around mile 16 and led the race the rest of the way.

Once I was in the lead, I had two bike escorts riding beside me. We chatted a little bit during those last 10 miles. I was thankful for the distraction.

My most vivid memory from the race is the bike escorts playing “Daydream Believer” on their radio for me during the last mile of the race. Apparently they do this for the winner every year and they replace “homecoming queen” with “marathon queen” as they serenade you. It was so cute! They tried to play it for me around mile 23 or 24. They were in communication with the person riding with the second place female and they told me that “I had it in the bag.” I was absolutely not letting them play that song until the very last mile though. As many of you may know, you never, ever know what will happen during those last few miles of a marathon! I definitely didn’t want to jinx it!

As I write this out, I do recall one other pretty vivid memory, which was seeing my husband … standing somewhere around mile 25. Mile 25, y’all. He was so excited and was all like “You’re winning!” and I was all like “Yes! I know! But …what in the world are you doing here? You need to be at the finish!” He told me that there was no way that he could make it there before I did. I strongly suggested that he RUN (and) FAST. He took off through the grassy area beside where I was running, hurdled some low-hanging tree limbs and almost lost his shoes in the mud, but by-golly he made it to the finish in time to see me cross the line!

As I approached the tape, it was like a wave of emotions washed over me. I had to overcome a lot of adversity to get to that point and the significance of the moment was not lost on me. I just felt everything. I felt so alive, so thankful, and so joyous.

I am no interpretive expert, but I think that there just may be some sort of symbolism to be found in the words of The Monkees song that was played for me that day.

Now you know how happy I can be

Oh, our good times start and end

Without all I want to spend

But how much baby do we really need 

What do you think that means? To me, it means now that he has experienced true happiness and he understands that even though not all times are good and you may never have everything you may want (on this earth anyway), you don’t really need much to find true peace, joy and contentment.

In a lot of ways, the marathon win was the catalyst for the other big things that happened this year, including changing jobs, starting the blog, applying for the Runner’s World contest, etc. With the Lord’s guidance, I found the strength and confidence that I needed to stand up for myself and share my story and testimony with the world. He revealed His purpose and deeper calling for my life.

The rest of the months are going to be much shorter, I promise. Just keep swimming reading!

February

In February I started working with my current running coach and focused on surviving tax season! I ran a 5K in there somewhere, but otherwise it was a pretty uneventful month (aside from the whole working a boatload of hours thing). Oddly enough, I have zero pictures on my phone from February. That pretty much sums up about how unexciting that month was.

March

March was more of the same, but unfortunately tax season got the best of me (in more ways than one) and I came down with the flu (for the first time in my life). I was really disappointed to miss my very favorite local race of the year, the Spring Fever Chase 10K. This year would’ve been my 10^th year in a row to run that race. It was the only race that I did consistently over the years (starting my sophomore year in college). It ended up turning out pretty neat though, because I was able to go watch and Daniel won it! He had to put up a hard fight and I was able to see him at several places along the course. If I had raced it, I would’ve been behind him and so it was really neat to get to see him cross the line in 1st place!

April

Tax season came to a close in April (thank goodness) and my mom and I took a fun trip to Watercolor.

May

Daniel graduated with his master’s degree in May! He was in school and working full-time for over 3 years, so this was a much anticipated, very exciting life event.

At the end of May, Daniel and I both left our jobs. We knew (at least hoped) that he would be taking a new job after graduation, so that wasn’t a huge surprise. Mine, on the other hand, was a little bit more unexpected, but was without a doubt one of the best decisions that I have ever made.

June

Daniel and I spent the first two weeks of June (intentionally) unemployed together. We figured that we would not get an opportunity to both be off of work at the same time for any extended period of time in the near future, so we wanted to take advantage of the opportunity that we had. Daniel started his new job in mid-June and that is when “Mobile Bay Runner” was born. I had been wanting to start a blog for a while and I finally had the time on my hands to make it happen!

Those of you who have been following along since the beginning pretty much know what I’ve been up to for the last half of the year, so feel free to disregard the remainder of this post if you wish. If you are new to the blog, continue reading for a condensed version of my other 67 blog posts from this year.

July

In July, I started training for the New York City marathon, tried yoga for the first time, played some tennis and spent a lot of time on the water.

August

I ran a 5K in early August and got a shiny new PR that I was pretty excited about!

On August 10th, I turned 30 and decided to run 30 miles on my birthday (totally normal behavior guys). I went back to work (pretty much full time) and started coaching the marathon training group at Running Wild, which brought about a drastic decrease in blog posting frequency. Things got a little busy there for a while. In late August, I found out that I had been chosen as a top 10 finalist for the Runner’s World cover search contest. That was a really exciting day!

September

Daniel and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary in September and went to New York City for the first time (courtesy of Runner’s World)! If you are new to the blog, you really just need to read this post. I think it is my favorite post to-date and there is no way to adequately summarize that experience.

October 

I ran a tune-up half marathon and survived some very tough weeks of marathon training as my New York City marathon training came to a close in October.

We also made it through our second busy season at work. At the end of October, we returned to New York for the big race.

November

On November 1st, after months of training, I ran the New York City marathon. The whole experience was very surreal! I ran a 3:02:47 and squeaked out a tiny little PR.

The next weekend, also after months of training, my marathon training group ran the Pensacola marathon (in the rain no less). The end of the month brought Thanksgiving and the ten year anniversary of the attack. Thanksgiving is a bittersweet and yet, a wonderful reminder for me of everything that I have to be thankful for. Every day is a gift, y’all. Don’t forget that.

December

Here we are in the final month of 2015 … December has been filled with Christmas parties, fires and a couple of fun weekend getaways (to the mountains and the beach).

We celebrated Daniel’s birthday and now we await the celebration of our Savior’s birth and the ringing in of the new year.

This has been an absolutely incredible year and I am so happy to be here sharing it with you guys! I’m going to keep on sharing too, so stay tuned! As they say, the rest is still unwritten …

Hey y’all! I’m linking up with HoHo Runs and MissSippiPiddlin again this week for the Weekly Wrap.

This weekend was all about celebrating Daniel’s birthday!

Anyone else have a birthday close to Christmas? I learned fairly early on in our relationship that it was of the utmost importance to differentiate between the birthday and the Christmas celebrations, especially with the gifts. Never, ever wrap a birthday gift in Christmas wrapping paper and never, ever combine a gift for both occasions. Both are highly frowned upon.

We kicked off the birthday festivities Friday evening after work. My mom used #HBED as our hashtag (Happy Birthday Eve Daniel). She wrote this on the outside of his card and then asked, “Isn’t that a hashtag?” She’s getting super hip on us. Watch out, world.

Daniel loves to grill out and sit by the fire, so that’s exactly what we did Friday night.

He opened a few gifts that evening. If anyone is looking for a cool, manly gift idea, check out Man Crates. I got Daniel the “Grill Master” crate and he really liked it! It came with lots of grilling gadgets, like a meat tenderizer, a cast iron smoker box with hickory wood chips, and four steak thermometers, along with several sauces and spices.

After the standard Saturday morning group run at Running Wild and post-run caffeine fix at Coffee Loft, we headed east to 30A for the weekend. We got an awesome Black Friday discount code for one night at the Watercolor Inn, and we decided that Daniel’s birthday would be the perfect time to use our night.

We had an awesome gulf view! It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed walking around and did a little bit of shopping.

We walked over to Seaside for dinner at Great Southern Cafe. We got the black-eyed pea hummus appetizer, I got the dinner salad with grilled salmon and Daniel got grouper with fried green tomatoes and sweet potato fries. Everything was delicious! As soon as the waiter brought out our food, Daniel made sure to get a picture. He got his phone out, looked at me and said, “Do you want me to get a picture for the blog?” I didn’t even have to ask. He’s good! It definitely reminded me of this article about Instagram (<– follow me!) husbands.

We came back and sat outside by the fire pit for a while. Unfortunately it was a gas fire and it didn’t put off all that much heat, so we basically sat in the pit, instead of beside it. It was so chilly this weekend! Last weekend we went to the “mountains” and it was really warm and this weekend we went to the beach and it was freezing. Totally backwards. I was completely happy with the cold weather though. It’s time.

The sunset definitely didn’t disappoint.

We woke up and had coffee Saturday morning while Daniel scoped out Strava segments. He made a route for us so that he could take two segments while we were out. For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, Strava is basically a social media platform for runners and bikers. Daniel is in the “Lower AL Runners” group. You can follow along and see what workouts and routes your friends are doing each day.

There are also “segments,” which are fuel to any athlete’s competitive juices and allow you to compete with other athletes by running or biking the same segment that they have done previously and beating their time. The segments are all varying distances and are all over the country. If you go to a new town, you have to find a segment to take down. It’s an addiction. If there was a Stravaholic Support group, Daniel would definitely need to join.

We ended up running 8 miles and he took two segments during the run. The first one was a one mile segment. He took that one in 5:56. The second one was three quarters of a mile. He took that one in 4:29. He was smokin! I don’t do Strava, so I just enjoyed running at a slower pace and he waited for me to catch up each time.

After our run, we walked on the beach for a little bit. I absolutely love running and walking on the beach. Daniel is nice enough to play along with my shenanigans. The water was so pretty!

We ended up walking back to Seaside in search of some breakfast. We had been wanting to try the Airstream food trucks for a while. A little history lesson Some random facts for you … in Seaside’s early days, many of the owners building homes stayed in Airstream trailers, aka “land yachts” while they waited on their houses to be completed. Some of the town architects did as well, as they spent long nights working. The trailers became part of the landscape and style of Seaside. They were comfortable and wonderfully designed and represented the adventurous spirit of the people who were making Seaside what it is today. Those “land yachts” are now all little independent food vendors.

As a side note, I am fascinated with the idea of living in an Airstream and traveling around the country. Daniel tells me that isn’t a realistic aspiration … something about having a steady job (and some other details that I’m kind of fuzzy on). Major bummer. Anyway … let’s get back on track here. Daniel got a grilled ham and cheese melt.

I found a truck that had all of the amazing things. All of them. I was so excited! Turns out that they were “remodeling” and not open for business (don’t let the sign fool you). Womp, womp. Check out the sweet monkey wrap on the sign though … peanut butter, apples, bananas, cinnamon and honey on a wrap. Does that not sound amazing? I might try to make that one on my own at some point.

I wasn’t too upset because we decided that we could just stop at Another Broken Egg on our way out of town. I love that place. We got there and it was closed too. So, so sad. At this point I was getting majorly hangry (the state of hunger where anger majorly sets in and takes over), so I settled with an oatmeal cup to go from the coffee shop next door to Another Broken Egg.

I’ll have to admit that the oatmeal was very good. Maybe I was just really hungry, but either way, I was pleasantly surprised. I might even incorporate these little, to-go oatmeal cups into the regular breakfast rotation. I’m all about convenience.

We made it home and finished up the last of our Christmas shopping. Boom! Now we just have to wrap the presents. Hopefully I won’t dislocate my shoulder wrapping the gifts this year. Yes, that definitely happened one year. Don’t ask …

Alright guys, I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and has a very Merry Christmas!

What are your Christmas plans?

Hey folks! Happy Friday!

Can you believe that Christmas is one week away?! Me either. I still need to tie up a few loose ends on the shopping front. I’m loving the Christmas tunes and all of the festivities though. It took me a little bit to catch the spirit this year, but it is here in full force now!

Let’s just talk about how awesome the movie “Elf” is for just a minute. I mean, they don’t really get much better than that (in my opinion). I am going to attempt to integrate some wonderful “Elf” quotes into this post. Ready … go!

You sit on a throne of lies!

Our neighbors have an awesome throne that Santa comes to sit in. I decided to carry along my phone on one of our evening runs this week so that I could get a pic on the throne.

Good news! I saw a dog today! Have you seen a dog? You probably have.

If you hadn’t noticed, we are somewhat obsessed with our little Brooksy.

You did it! Congratulations! World’s best cup of coffee! Great job, everybody.

Check out the amazing gift we got at our small group’s dirty santa party. We had to do some scheming to make sure that we got this one at just the right time so that no one else could steal it from us. Success!

I just like to smile! Smiling’s my favorite.

Seemed like an appropriate place as any for a smiling selfie!

He’s an *angry* elf!

I don’t have a ton of *angry* pictures, but that is definitely one of my favorite quotes from the movie, so it had to be included. This one of Sooki from a Gilmore Girls episode that I watched this week on the treadmill works pretty well though.

Does somebody need a hug?

Brooksy hugs are the best!

I’m a cotton-headed ninny-muggins.

Truth. I may be a cotton-headed ninny-muggins sometimes, but at least when I am, I win a tacky sweater contest. Please note Jordan’s photo bomb that this is an actual vintage Christmas sweater from the 80s (ish). I’m actually not sure when it is from, but my mom did inform me that it was “a Marisa Christina Classic,” which from her explanation I am taking to mean that it was super fancy back in the day.

The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.

The guys at our small group Christmas party. I’m not entirely sure why they posed this way, but it kind of looks like they are caroling. Just go with it!

Did you hear that?

That was just me, running on the treadmill.

To summarize: I love the movie Elf, my husband and my dog (not in that order). My week was filled with some running, some working and some Christmas parties (pretty much in that order).

I have a little extra time on my hands today, so I figured we could catch up today and then my weekly “Week End Wrap-Up” post can actually be about just the weekend. Novel concept, I know! Today is Daniel’s birthday eve and we’ve got some celebrating to do this weekend! I do believe that the birthday weekend deserves its own post.

Talk to you soon!

Hey friends!

I had a good week of training and a wonderful weekend (that included a little mini-vacation) and I’m excited to be linking up with HoHo Runs and MissSippiPiddlin again this week for the Weekly Wrap. Just a fair warning, I’ve got lots to share this week, so go ahead and grab a cup of coffee (or tea, hot chocolate, etc.) and get comfy.

I started the week off with an easy run on Monday and then Tuesday morning I hit the treadmill for a 10 mile brisk pace run. My schedule called for a 2 mile warm up and then 8 miles at 7:00 – 7:10 pace. I ended up averaging 7:03 for the “brisk” portion, which I was very pleased with. The brisk pace run is something that my coach uses periodically in training to help improve the athlete’s ability to stay relaxed and smooth at a quick pace.

I successfully kept myself distracted throughout that workout by watching a few episodes of Gilmore Girls. I absolutely loved that show when I was in high school and college. My mom and I watched it together every week. I’ve heard rumors that the show is returning for another season (on Netflix only), so I just started watching from the beginning to familiarize myself with the show again. Plus, workouts are much better with friends!

I’ve apparently done something to make my face very angry with me. The past few weeks, I have had several rashes and/or breakouts take over the entire surface area otherwise known as my face. The jury is still out as to whether or not it is some sort of allergy or not, but for now I have just discontinued the use of all products on my face. This doesn’t really seem like a big deal (and probably shouldn’t have been), but I figure since I am oversharing my life on the internet, I might as well not leave anything out.

Perhaps this is stating the obvious, but I want to just point out that it is so very easy to “leave out” unhappy, bad or even just mediocre things on social media. I want to try my best not to do that because that isn’t real. And if we are being real, the whole face situation had me bummed out, which I know sounds really silly and really petty. But regardless, I was feeling bummed so I had to acknowledge those feelings and try to get to the root of the issue.

I got a steroid shot Tuesday, which meant that I was awake pretty much the entire night. There have been several people on my heart and I did lots of praying and reflecting that night (or well technically Wednesday morning). Oddly enough, the First 5 devotion Tuesday morning talked about getting quiet and listening to God. I had plenty of time to work on that while I was awake all night.

I know that outward appearances do not matter. I know that. Yet, it is so darn easy to fall into the trap of thinking that they do. The world focuses on what people look like on the outside. While there’s nothing explicitly “wrong” with wanting to look pretty, we just need to make sure it’s in balance. I definitely felt convicted that I needed to restore my balance. God focuses on what people look like on the inside. He would rather see us work on becoming drop-dead gorgeous on the inside … you know, the kinds of girls who talk to Him on a regular basis and study His word.

As I sit here now, finishing up my post, I stumbled right across this amazing article that a friend recently shared. The author writes, “God has called me to fitness, … but He hasn’t called me to put the focus on my body or on my accomplishments. The biggest disservice that I could do would be to inspire women to look at the outside appearance and believe that THAT is the most important thing, or that they have to live up to a certain expectation to be acceptable in the world’s eyes … It’s not about extreme fitness, or accomplishing great things with your body. It’s about being extremely sold out to the calling God has placed on your life and being healthy enough to GO and DO what He asks.” Um, Can I get an AMEN?! I love it when God reveals things to me that I need to hear (even in something as simple as an article shared via social media).

Moving on … Thursday morning I hit the track for a speed workout! I haven’t been to the track in a really long time. I had 10 X 600 meter repeats on the schedule with a goal pace of 5:50 to 6:00 (so 2:10 to 2:15 per repeat). It was dark and early, but I got it in and thankfully Daniel went over to the track with me so that I wouldn’t be by myself. You might have seen this on Instagram, but here’s how it went down … 2:13, 2:15, 2:14, 2:14, 2:12, 2:11, 2:11, 2:12, 2:12, 2:11.

We loaded the car up, dropped Brooksy off at the doggie ranch and headed north after work Thursday evening. We spent the weekend in Gaylesville, AL (population < 150), which is just outside of Fort Payne (and also just outside of Lickskillet (yes, really … you can’t make these things up)). One of the doctors that Daniel works with was nice enough to let us stay in their cabin for the weekend. We are so thankful to the McGees. Their place was absolutely beautiful (check it out on VRBO)!

Friday morning we went rappelling and rock climbing with True Adventure Sports in the Little River Canyon. Going in, I was a tad skeptical about this whole “adventure.” Case in point.

But you guys … it was absolutely incredible! Part of the mission statement of TAS is to operate their business as a ministry, to bless others and to help others experience God’s creation through a new light. Our guides, Tyler and Jonathan, were great. Daniel and I were both genuinely encouraged by their boldness to step out and share their faith with everyone that goes on trips with them. They prayed with us before and after the trip and it was really powerful. They have a wonderful ministry and it was a great reminder to not be afraid to talk to people about “real” things and things that are important to you.

In my previous post, I kind of jokingly referred to this adventure as being an “exercise in trust,” but the more I thought about that, the more that I realized there was something there and I want to expound upon it a little bit. Trust is defined pretty simply as the act of placing confidence is someone or something else. It is a fundamental action, but without it, fear can take over.

I’m sure most all of us have heard the verse from Proverbs 3:5 that says “trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” Unfortunately we also probably have all gone through different things and different experiences that have “taught” us that we can only depend on ourselves, not others. In order to live the life that God has called us to live, we have to unlearn that lesson and learn to rest in God’s understanding. We may know that God is all-understanding and that he possesses infinite wisdom, but sometimes it can still be difficult to trust Him completely. Every day we must make a conscious effort to set aside our own plans and expectations and to surrender to His plan for us.

What better way to work on trust than to face your fear head on?

Rappelling was definitely my favorite. Apparently rock climbing is not in my skill set (not that I thought it would be), but I’m glad that I tried it. Daniel was a lot better than me at the climbing. He went first and made it look so easy … but, no. Not so much. I definitely need to work on that whole upper body strength thing.

After all the fears were faced and the trust was restored, we headed the local grocery store, the Unlimited Grocery Outlet, to get some groceries for the weekend. This in itself was quite an experience. The place was crazy cheap, but the selection left quite a bit to be desired. I don’t believe that they carried any of the brands of any food that I typically buy. While that was a bit of a mental challenge for me at first, we came away with some good options and minimal stress.

We got back to the cabin around 3 pm that afternoon and we were itching to scope out our route options and go for a run. Because … running. We found some awesome trails and got in 6 miles. We had to wear our hunter orange because the area where we were staying (and running) was several thousand acres of wildlife management area and there were lots of hunters out.

We cooked a delicious dinner (ribeye, conecuh sausage, chicken, grilled veggies and sweet potato fries).

Saturday morning we headed over to Huntsville to watch Daniel’s sister, Leigh-Ann, run the Rocket City Marathon. It was her first full and she did great! We had some navigational difficulties getting around the course, so we didn’t catch her until mile 19. We found a place to park around mile 20.5 and we took off running backwards along the course to find her. It was rather warm (especially for pants and long sleeves … poor planning on my part). We found her right at mile 19 and ran the mile and a half with her back to the car.

From what I could tell and from what she told us, this was a really cool course. The runners got to run by the rockets at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center and through the Huntsville Botanical Gardens. The race finished in an indoor arena, where there was live music and lots of food. I loved the finish area. It was perfect for spectating.

She finished in 4:19:20 and was still smiling at the end!

Several of Daniel’s family members were there to support Leigh-Ann. Her aunt and uncle even came all the way down from Louisville, KY and surprised her!

We headed back to the cabin after lunch and got back in time to go for a run. We ventured out in the opposite direction this time and were able to get 6 miles in again. You can’t really tell, but the shirt I was running in was a shirt I got in NYC for the marathon and it says “Run NYC Run Anywhere.” I thought that was pretty fitting because it kind of felt like we were running in the middle of nowhere.

Leigh-Ann and her husband, Will, came over and stayed with us for the evening after the race. We haven’t gotten to see them much recently, so it was really nice to hang out and spend some quality time together. We made dinner (pretty much more of the same … ribeye, pork, chicken, sweet potatoes and veggies) and hung out by the fire. We had s’mores for dessert and fell asleep watching Elf (which is obviously the best. movie. ever). It was a perfect evening!

We woke up to a beautiful sunrise Sunday morning. We had some coffee, watched the sun come up and mapped out our route for the day.

I had a 14 mile long run on the schedule with the middle 6 miles up-tempo (6:40 to 6:50 pace). I didn’t want to do that on dirt, gravel or trails, so we found a route that would take us over to the Little River Canyon scenic highway, where we could *attempt* the tempo portion. Just a heads up, anytime you are running in canyon, expect hills. Lots and lots of hills.

Anytime you are running on a scenic highway, expect beautiful scenery. Lots and lots of beautiful scenery. The route, while not optimal for tempoing, was absolutely beautiful. The tempo portion was shortened to 4 miles and went like this: 6:54, 7:03, 7:40, 7:14. I am pretty sure that the effort I was having to put in to get those times was closer to the 6:40 to 6:50 range though (that is what I am telling myself at least). We climbed close to 1,000 ft., which might not sound like a lot, but I was definitely feeling it.

We came back to the cabin, scrambled some eggs and relaxed for a while before it was time to pack up and head back south. I made the most of the long (ish) drive home and got the majority of this post typed up, using the new and improved WordPress app. Daniel was driving, listening to ESPN radio and smoking a cigar eating cow tales. Does anyone else out there eat these things? He loves them.

We had a wonderful weekend, but of course it is always nice to be home. We missed our little buddy. He lived it up at the doggie ranch. We know this because we are the overprotective puppy parents who keep tabs on our fur baby via Dog Ranch Resort’s Facebook page while we are away. Don’t judge. Look how much fun he had …

Alright guys. I think we are officially caught up. I hope you all have a wonderful week! I’ll talk to you soon!

Hey there! It’s time for another end of the week summary. Last week was a good week! Let me tell you about it …

Last week was technically week number three of my NOLA marathon training. I haven’t actually signed up for the race yet, and if we are being honest (which we always try to be, yes?), I’m not 100% sure that I want run it. Training is going well though, so for now I’m just going to keep on keeping on. I only had two “workouts” last week and rest of the runs were nice and easy. I’ll tell you about the workouts and then we’ll move on to other topics.

Wednesday, I had 3 X 2 mile repeats on the schedule with a goal range of 6:20 to 6:30. I did a 2 mile warm up and then actually ended up doing all 6 miles of the workout without any recovery. I thought that I was going to run out of time, so I basically just turned the workout into a fast tempo. I averaged 6:31 for the first two miles, 6:22 for the second two miles and 6:15 for the last two. Overall, I felt really strong. I knew that I had done this workout before (with recovery in between each set) so I was curious to compare my times and they were faster this go ’round. I was definitely pleased to see that. Coach says that my lactate threshold has improved, which is also good.

For those of you who may be curious (like me), your lactate threshold is basically the point where you convert from aerobic to anaerobic running. The end of your pure aerobic training zone would be your lactate threshold. The terms aerobic and anaerobic refer to the presence or absence of oxygen, respectively. During aerobic exercise (i.e., with adequate amounts of oxygen available in your bloodstream), your muscles can contract repeatedly without fatigue, but during higher-intensity anaerobic exercise (i.e., without adequate amounts of oxygen available in your bloodstream), your muscles must rely on things other than oxygen in order to contract. The anaerobic state causes cells to produce waste molecules, which impair muscle contractions and leads to fatigue.

So basically the secret to long distance running is to run at a pace that is right below your lactate threshold and only run faster than this at the very end of the race. If you exceed the threshold too early in the race you fatigue too quickly and will not end up with a good result. Seems easy enough right? That is definitely one of those things that is easier said than done!

Saturday, I had a 16 mile *moderate* pace long run on the schedule, with a goal range of 7:20 to 7:40. I ended up running 20 miles with an overall average of 7:42. I don’t know what it was about this day, but I felt so. good. The weather was amazing and I had lots of good company along the way and what can I say, “I just … felt like running.” I have officially quoted Forrest Gump on a running blog now. I think that means I have arrived, or possibly that I have run out of things to say. You can decide. So yeah, I started out with the Running Wild group and ended the run with Daniel and Kenny. They also ran 20 and averaged somewhere in the 7:20 to 7:30 range (I think). Regardless, they had a great run too!

I know it isn’t *quite* Christmas yet, but Daniel surprised me with a couple of things last week that are worth sharing. We are going on a mini-vacation soon to north AL and apparently, we are going rock climbing and rappelling. Surprise! He came home with this contraption (which is supposed to keep me safe while I fling myself backwards off of big rocks) …

I haven’t been rappelling before, but he has. I do believe that this is going to be a big exercise in trust for our relationship. Don’t worry mom, we are going to have proper instruction and guidance from professionals (I think).

A few days later he came home with a cold brew for me. Don’t worry dad, it is coffee. Fairhope has a new restaurant, Warehouse Bakery & Donuts and a new coffee company, Fairhope Roasting Company. Daniel said I had been “going on and on” about how much I was liking iced coffee right now (perhaps I talk about coffee a tad too much?) and so he knew I would love this. I do!

I also got a Stitch Fix box last week! I kept a top and a dress. The top is plain on the front with a cute pattern on the back and the dress is grey and black with long sleeves. Brooks approves. Stitch Fix never disappoints!

We tried our church’s new campus for the first time yesterday and we really liked it! Our church is growing, which is an awesome thing and has opened up several new campuses in the past year or so. We went to the Eastern Shore “North” campus yesterday, which is much smaller than the “South” campus. Daniel and I both liked the smaller setting. We started our Christmas series called JOY yesterday and the message was wonderful.

I definitely want to expound upon this message at some point, but for now I’ll give you a few good takeaways:

• Christians must learn to trust that God’s intentions for them are always good.
• Christian joy is an emotion in the human spirit, produced by the Holy Spirit, as He leads us to see the Glory of Christ.
• God wants you to have joy so much that He will break your taste for false joy, while developing in you a taste for His joy.
• God gets glory from your full joy when your full joy is found in Him.

We brought the weekend to a close yesterday by grilling out, making a fire and having some s’mores!

I am linking up with HoHo Runs and MissSippiPiddlin this week for their Weekly Wrap. You should definitely head over and check out their blogs!

Well, that’s a wrap! I hope everyone has a good week. I’ll talk to you soon!

Hey guys! Last time we talked, I told you that I was thinking about doing a few different kinds of posts this week. In typical Sam fashion, that didn’t happen. I just can’t work on the blog after work. I’m going to stop trying to convince myself that I can or that I need to.

I did, however, think about the posts that I wanted to do during the week. It’s the thought that counts, right? Ehh, maybe not. Well, I’m going to put my thoughts to paper screen now and this one will be 3 posts in 1!

Wordless Wednesday

This one will definitely not be a regular thing. I just can’t post a bunch of pictures and not write anything. I took several pictures this Wednesday, but I just don’t really know if anyone wants to see only pictures on a blog. I get that people like posts to include pictures, but a post of only pictures seems silly. Since I did snap some pics this Wednesday, here is my (semi) wordless Wednesday for you …

It starts with a 5 a.m. wakeup. I love the First 5 app! It’s a great way to get the day started with a quick devotion. Check it out if you haven’t.

I’m back into the swing of things with workout Wednesday. This week I had a 2 mile warm up, 3 X 2 mile repeats and a 2 mile cool down.

After my workout, it is time to play Brooks. He loves to fetch! It’s  difficult to get a non-blurry action shot of him. I tried …

After the humans and animals have been played, I have a few minutes to shower and make myself presentable for work.

I get to work at 8 and it’s time to hydrate, caffeinate and have a protein shake. Smart gal’s a rhymer 🙂 Name that movie!

This is where the day gets a little bit boring (from a picture taking standpoint at least). I sit and play with numbers for about 8 hours.

At 5 I head home to catch the sunset!

After the sun sets, it’s usually dinner, a little bit of television (Shark Tank, The Profit or White Collar) and time for bed.

Thursday is for Thinking Out Loud

Now that we are thinking out loud … What do you think about the wordless Wednesday? I am kind of torn. Personally, I really enjoy reading bloggers that post frequently and I also like posts that are simple, just here is what I did today, type of things. From a writing perspective though, I want my posts to have more meaning than that. I want there to be a purpose.

I have been thinking a lot recently about purpose. I want to live with purpose and be intentional about how I spend my time. I know that I am here (on earth) for a reason and that God has a purpose for my life. It may seem silly, but I definitely feel like sharing my thoughts with you guys here is a part of that purpose. Blogging gives you a great platform to reach people that you would otherwise never have a chance to impact.

I told Daniel recently that I was feeling a little bit confused about what my purpose is now that the Runner’s World contest was over. I was feeling like that was my one chance to share my story and reach people and now it was over. He encouraged me by telling me that I was only just beginning. I really needed to hear that! More than anything, I want to do something meaningful with my life and I want to help people. Those are the things I know. The problem is that I don’t know exactly what that looks like at this point. That is what I am currently thinking (and praying) a lot about.

Friday Five

This week’s topic for the Friday Five post was 5 Dream Vacations. I like this topic! There are several places that I would love to go (or revisit)!

1. Tropical: Hope Town (Abaco, Bahamas)
2. Snow Skiing: Park City (Utah)
3. Surfing: Hawaii
4. Wilderness: Alaska
5. International: Cinque Terre, Italy

I’ve been to Hope Town a couple of times and let me just tell you, it is an incredible destination! It is a quaint little village on the island of Elbow Cay, located just about 200 miles from West Palm Beach, FL. The entire island is just over 4 miles long. There aren’t many cars on the island and most people get around on bikes or golf carts. The beaches and water are beautiful and you have access to lots of fun activities, like sailing, snorkeling, diving and fishing.

I have also been snow skiing a couple of times and I really love it! I want to go again, soon. I chose Park City because I have been there before and it was wonderful, but I would be very happy to go skiing again, regardless of the destination. My only request would be that it be somewhere out west (CO, UT, WY, etc.).

Surfing is a “bucket list” thing for me. I have always, always wanted to go! When I was younger, I was obsessed with the movie Gidget. The tagline is “a young girl discovers surfing and love (in that order) during one transitive summer.” I am probably dating myself with that one. Anyone else remember those movies? So cute! The obsession later transferred to the movie Blue Crush. This one was set on Hawaii’s North Shore. I don’t even think the movie itself it much to write home about, but the surfing scenes were phenomenal. One day I will go!

The adventurous side of me also wants to go to Alaska. Daniel and I occasionally watch Alaska: The Last Frontier on Discovery. We like to talk about whether or not we would be able to survive living “off the grid.” I don’t know that I want to go that far with it, but I definitely want to visit! I want to go kayaking and salmon fishing in Alaska (and then we can come home).

Daniel has been to Cinque Terre, Italy and he says that I would love it. I have seen his pictures and heard his stories and I definitely agree. He says that while he was there, he went on “the most picturesque, scenic run he has ever been on” and it’s on the coast. Um, sign me up!

What is your dream vacation?

Hello, hello!

Here we are at the beginning of a brand new week!

As part of my continuing (and thus far, failed) efforts to bring some consistency to this little corner of the interwebs that is my blog, I have decided to do a “Week End Wrap” at the end of each week (or I guess technically the beginning of the week, depending on how you want to look at it). And in case you were wondering, yes I know weekend is one word, but the point of the post is that is going to be at the end of the week and will be a recap of running, life and random happenings, etc. that take place each week that I haven’t had a chance to fill y’all in on previously.

I am also thinking about starting to do more linkups and/or weekly themed posts. I feel like I have shared most of the “big stuff” that I set out to share when I started this blog. I know there will definitely be more, but right now I think it will be fun to link up with some other bloggers or just have a set topic one (or more) days where I don’t have to rack my brain for content. I think the point is that my brain just needs a ‘lil break, especially before tax season begins. I will need it to be functioning at maximum capacity by then!

Here are a few that I am considering … Let me know in the comments if there are any that you would like to see me write about!

Tuesday Tunes – A music related post.
Wordless Wednesday – A post of pictures and no not many words.
Thursday is for Thinking Out Loud – A weekly blogging linkup that is a “celebration of quirks and randomness! An opportunity to take the pressure and stress out of writing by sharing whatever it is that happens to pop into your mind when you begin to type — all worries about sense and structure pushed aside. A collection of random and disjointed thoughts, just because.”
The Friday Five – The topics are selected by the hosts each week and you come up with five things that go along with the weekly theme.
Friday Favorites – Share your favorite … anything, really from the week.

Now that we’ve thought about what I might be writing about in the future, let’s get on with things and catch up over an end of the week summary. The Thanksgiving holiday made the week fly by extra quickly and a few extra days off work made for lots of fun and relaxation!

I don’t have too much to report for the first few days of the week. Everything was pretty status quo around here with a little bit of running and a little bit of working. My parents got into town Tuesday evening, and an amazing sunset greeted them when they arrived!

Thursday morning, I ran in the local the turkey trot (you can read about that here) and then we headed to my grandmother’s for Thanksgiving lunch. My grandmother is quite amazing and is definitely one of a kind. She is ninety and she still works pretty much full-time, selling more real estate than most other realtors in the area (and she occasionally reads the blog, so hi Nana!).

Last weekend she took a pretty nasty tumble (she went out with a friend for dinner and dancing, no joke), but thankfully she is okay. No broken bones or anything! She is tough as nails. She is black and blue, but other than that, she is doing really well and she still insisted that everyone was coming over for Thanksgiving. My cousin Jessica did most of the cooking this year and she did a wonderful job! It was nice to spend some time with family and we were extra thankful this year that Nana was okay and is healing well.

Friday morning Daniel had a group run planned with some of his training buddies and I decided to tag along. In hindsight, I probably should’ve sat this one out, but I figured this was going to be the best chance for me to get my long run for the week done and have someone to run with (Daniel had to do rounds at the hospital Saturday and Sunday). The route that Daniel picked out was really tough, with over 1,200 feet of elevation gain. I was definitely struggling to keep up with the guys and ultimately, I didn’t keep up with them. Daniel was nice enough to hang back with me though. We ended up with 16 miles at about 7:55 pace.

I actually got a good yoga session in Friday evening. Totally random, but I felt like my body needed some good stretching and recovery, especially after a race and a long run on back to back days. That isn’t *technically* recommended, by the way. It is best to put at least one easy day in between a race or workout and your long run. I am really enjoying the Runner’s World DVD set that I got. It gives you the flexibility to work yoga into your schedule whenever you can. I also like that there are some shorter sessions on there. The yoga for recovery and yoga for core strength are just over 30 minutes, which is a good length, in my opinion.

Saturday morning I woke up and hung out with my mom and dad for a little bit while Daniel was at work. We had coffee by the fire. It was time to break out the Christmas coffee cups! If we’re being honest though, we pretty much use those year round. It was still fun to use them and know that it actually ’tis the season!

Then we bundled up and headed out for a boat ride. The bay was beautiful all weekend. There was an east breeze, which means that the bay is nice and calm. It would’ve been perfect skiing water. If I had a wetsuit, I’d be up for it, but I don’t. Hmm … maybe I should add that to my Christmas list? Dad dropped mom and I off at the pier in Fairhope and we walked 6 miles back to the house.

By the time we got back, Daniel was just getting home from work and it was time to do a little pre-Iron Bowl preparation. We headed to the store for some game snacks and to get some meat to grill out after the game. I am not a huge football fan, but I don’t mind watching every now and then. It turned out to be a really good game! It was pretty suspenseful. We grilled out some chicken, hamburgers and Conecuh sausage after the game, so basically now we have enough food to last us for several days.

Sunday morning was pretty much an exact repeat of Saturday morning. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we figured, might as well duplicate it. The only difference was that mom and I walked 4 miles home via the road and the last 2 via the beach, which was so much fun! The bay was really shallow so we had plenty of beach to walk on. We had to hop a few bulkheads and creeks, duck under some piers and do a little bit of rock climbing, but that just kept things interesting. I really enjoyed the time I got to spend with my family this weekend. I am so thankful for them!

Sunday afternoon I headed back out on the courts for some more tennis. I am really liking this new Sunday afternoon routine. It’s been good for me to play on a somewhat consistent basis and I’m actually enjoying playing doubles. My partner and I are getting into a good rhythm and hopefully we will be able to play in a league together soon. She’s awesome at the net and I like to stay back on the baseline, so we play well together.

Sunday evening was super lazy. We sat on the couch and watched White Collar for several hours. That show has definitely gotten us hooked!

Alright, guys … that pretty much gets us caught up on last week. Hopefully I will be talking to you soon! Please let me know if there is something that you like reading about or would like to see a post on. Any and all suggestions are welcome!

Hello friends!

I can’t believe another week (and weekend) has flown by. Let’s catch up over an end of the week summary.

First things first … I know I kind of left y’all hanging the last two posts about “what’s next,” so I am gonna go ahead and put it out there. I have decided to train for the Rock ‘N’ Roll New Orleans marathon on February 28th, 2016.

I have talked with my coach about it and he feels like it is plenty of time to recover and get another training cycle in and after all, I do have a title to defend. No pressure, right? I’m also really excited about this training cycle because Daniel and two of his buddies are planning to run it as well, so we should all be able to train together. Plus it seems like just about everyone that I know from our area that runs is going to NOLA for either the half or the full. It should be lots of fun!

Now that I’ve put that out there, hopefully I will hold myself accountable to stick with my training. My motivation has been slightly lacking the past few weeks, which is fine. I needed some down time. Now I think it is time to set new goals and get back to work. Last week was officially the 1st week of my NOLA training cycle. It didn’t go exactly as planned (i.e., I completely skipped a race that I was supposed to do), but that’s okay.

Monday and Tuesday were easy runs with Daniel before work. We’ve gotten into a pretty good routine with our early morning runs. It is so nice now that we are actually working somewhat similar schedules. He used to work 12 hour shifts that weren’t always set days of the week, so it was harder for us to run together in the mornings. Now we both pretty much work 8 to 5, which makes it so much easier to coordinate our training.

Workout Wednesday found its way back into my life this week. I had a progressive tempo run (where you gradually increase the intensity and pace of the run) on the schedule. I was supposed to start the tempo portion of the run at a comfortably quick rhythm (think marathon pace) and gradually increase the intensity as I went, finishing at strong quick rhythm (think 10k pace). Coach told me it would start off feeling good but get fairly intense in last third of the run and boy was he right!

I did a 2 mile warm up, a 4 mile progressive tempo (6:58, 6:44, 6:31, 6:15), and a 2 mile cool down. The last mile of the workout was super tough! That was the first real workout I had done since the marathon though, so I guess that makes sense. I felt awesome (once the workout was done)!

Thursday was another easy run with Daniel before work. After work we headed down to the “Tree Lighting Celebration” in downtown Fairhope. I love this little tradition. They close the streets off and everyone gathers to watch the Christmas lights come on for the first time of the holiday season. It is absolutely beautiful! The lights stay on the trees from mid-November through the “Arts & Crafts Festival” in mid-March. I love that they are on for about half of the year! The picture doesn’t exactly do it justice, but you get the idea.

Apparently some of the “locals” (or at least this lady) were upset that the crowds were large at this event this year. I must say, I am completely baffled by this. The city promotes the event and they have Santa and all the frozen characters (well … at least Elsa, Anna & Olaf) there. There is fake snow and everything. I guess I really just don’t understand why this lady would be upset that people came to support the city?!

We stayed around for a while after the lighting and ate at one of the restaurants downtown. I’m pretty sure most of the people that came did the same, so I feel like this was a good thing for the city and local businesses, but perhaps I am missing something. Sorry to get off on a tangent, but for some reason I felt like I needed to get that out there.

Friday morning Daniel and I did yet another easy run before work. Are you noticing the pattern here? I love it.

Saturday morning I was supposed to race the Turkey 10 miler in Creola, AL. I usually love this race! It’s flat as a pancake. For whatever reason, I was just not feeling it this year. It’s a little bit of a haul to get to and I didn’t want to spend the entire day Saturday at a race. Plus, 10 miles just seemed like so far to race (says the marathoner, I know). What can I say, sometimes you just aren’t feeling it and I most definitely wasn’t, so we slept in a little and ran 10 miles at home (at about an 8:30 pace, as opposed to the 6:30 pace that I would’ve been *trying* to run at the race). Much more pleasant.

Saturday evening we had the graduation party for the Running Wild half and full marathon training groups. Missy and Mike were so gracious to open their home to everyone. It was fun to see everyone after the race and hear “what’s next” for all of them as well!

Sunday morning we planned to do our usual group run and we woke up to a major cold front. I know the wind shows that it was 12 mph, but I am fairly certain that it was at least 20 mph (if not more). The breeze blowing right off the bay made for an exceptionally chilly run. We had a fun group and got in 15 miles at a 7:37 average, which I was very pleased with!

I played tennis again this Sunday afternoon and the wind definitely kept things interesting for us on the courts. My partner and I won, but it was a really close, fun match. We split sets and the third set went all the way to a tiebreaker, which we managed to win. Our match last week was the exact same. I guess our teams are really evenly matched, which makes for some good tennis!

Sunday evening we had “Friendsgiving” with our small group. We had so much food (and so much fun)! Everyone contributed to the meal. I was asked to bring a salad and a veggie tray. My friends know me well (i.e., they know that I don’t cook).

This was a very “social” weekend for us. I am so thankful for the friendships that we have made through running and through our small group.

Hello and happy weekend!

I have heard of the “post-marathon blues” before, but I don’t think that I had ever actually experienced it until after this last race. Training takes a lot of mental, physical and emotional energy and after all of the dust settles you are left with an overwhelming feeling of, “Well … now what?” Like any major life event that includes lots of brain (and body) power leading up to it, the result, no matter where it falls on the spectrum, can leave you feeling funky once it’s over and done.

I think the funkiness was especially magnified after NYC because the timing of this past training cycle also coincided with the Runner’s World cover search, the training cycle for the marathon training group that I was coaching and a busy season at work. I also think that the time change also has me feeling off. The sun sets before I get home from work most days and I definitely don’t like it. It is difficult to find any sort of motivation to do, well anything, when it is so dark out.

I had several months with a lot going on and it was wonderful, but exhausting. I was so ready for a break … or so I thought. If you know me or have been reading along for a little bit now, you probably know that “breaks” aren’t really my forte. Several months ago we took the Gallup strength finder test at work. Note: this is different from the “kingdomality” quiz that I wrote about here. The Gallup thing was an actual, legit test. It is several hundred questions and the results give your top five strengths. I really love this test because it shows you positive results (i.e., it is a strength finder, not a weakness finder) and also gives you suggestions of how to best apply your strengths in your life and work. Anyway, my number one strength is called “achiever.” The results read: “People who are especially talented in the achiever theme have a great deal of stamina and work hard. They take great satisfaction from being busy and productive.” Basically not being busy was leaving me feeling very unsatisfied.

I also realized that I was falling into the trap of basing my self-worth on my performance. I am overly self-critical, like way harder on myself than anyone else ever would think about being. It goes hand in hand with the whole people pleasing, perfectionistic tendencies. I figured some of you might could identify with this as well. It is easy to feel good about yourself when things are going well. It is also easy to get achievement confused with worth. This confusion leaves you with an unstable sense of worth that fluctuates with each “performance” that you give. Now that my “performances” were done (the race, the cover search, coaching, etc.), I was left feeling like I didn’t have a direction or purpose.

Now I know that this isn’t true, but it is definitely how I was feeling. Sometimes our feelings don’t make sense, but they are what they are, so it is best to address them and figure out where they are coming from. I think the Lord was using this time to remind me that my feeling of self-worth should come from the fact that I am His child, created in His image.

I was instantly reminded of the Casting Crowns song “Who Am I.”

Not because of who I am

But because of what You’ve done.

Not because of what I’ve done

But because of who You are.

I am a flower quickly fading,

Here today and gone tomorrow.

A wave tossed in the ocean.

A vapor in the wind.

Still You hear me when I’m calling.

Lord, You catch me when I’m falling.

And You’ve told me who I am.

I am Yours, I am Yours.

I was also reminded of this passage from Isaiah .. Isaiah 43:1-3: “But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be there with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord you God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

I guess all that was really just a reminder that you don’t have to “earn” your self-worth and our worth is not really of the “self” at all; rather, it is worth given to us by God. We are of inestimable value to Him because of the price He paid to make us worthy—the death of His Son on the cross. Our self-worth is too often based on what other people tell us about ourselves or if you are like me, what your own silly brain conjures up. The one, true authority on our self-worth is Jesus, and since He gave His own life up for us by dying on a cross, that should tell us just how valuable we really are.

So, that was the main thing that I wanted to share today, but I also want to catch up on a few fun things that have been going on, amidst the aforementioned “funkiness.” In the spirit of November and with Thanksgiving quickly approaching (how did that happen so fast, by the way), I want to share with you a few things that happened this week that I am thankful for. Take this list with a grain of salt … it’s just a silly list for fun, but it’ll be a good way to get you caught up on some things that have been going on.

Yoga. Daniel and I got to do a yoga session Monday evening. We tried another disc of our Runner’s World yoga DVD and it was really good! Basically, I was really thankful to spend some time with quality time with him and yoga has a special way of putting you into the right frame of mind to be present and grateful for what you have.

Friends. I able to get in three quality runs with Rebecca this week and one with Lizzie. We have all been busy with work and our own training, so it was great to be able to catch up over some easy miles this week.

Mail. We don’t typically get a ton of mail (and usually when we do, it is just bills, etc.), but this week I got two fun packages!

First up was a big box from Runner’s World with several copies of the December issue. It was so much fun to actually get my hands on the magazine!

The second delivery was my Stitch Fix box, which was awesome this month! I haven’t posted a review in a few months. My September and October boxes both had more fall/winter pieces than I was ready for, so I didn’t end up keeping much of anything from those. The temperatures have finally dropped a good bit (i.e., high 40s) and this month I was happy to see jeans and a big sweater!

Cooking. Y’all. Something is probably wrong with me, but I had a major desire to cook something this weekend. I found a couple of recipes that I wanted to try. I made turkey, quinoa and apple pilaf Friday evening. It had red and green bell peppers, onion, celery and apricots (along with the ingredients in the title). Daniel even liked it. He ranked it an 8 out of 10 (in case you haven’t been following along, a rating of 1 is the equivalent of olives and 10 is the equivalent of pizza). It looks like a big mess, but it was really good … kind of tasted like a good Thanksgiving turkey and dressing.

Fire. Since it is finally cold out, Daniel and I decided to put the fire pit to use. He made a little fire and we sat outside for a while yesterday evening after the game. Something about a fire is quite mesmerizing and we really enjoyed getting some fresh air after an afternoon indoors watching football (I watched the entire AL game yesterday, by the way … I’m pretty sure I get special points for that). Anyway, the fire was nice and the weather was perfect! I forgot to get marshmallows this week at the grocery store, but I think I see some s’more action in our future.

Coffee. I mean, really, who isn’t thankful for coffee? Daniel and I have an ongoing “discussion” of what qualifies as real coffee. He tends to go for the sweeter drinks and I prefer the regular stuff. He texted me a picture of his “coffee” that a pharmaceutical rep brought by their office this week. I told him that they must have gotten confused and brought him ice cream instead.

If you like iced coffee (which I definitely do), you absolutely must go check out this recipe. It is a really funny read (yes, it’s about coffee, but this lady knows how to keep it interesting) and the iced coffee that it makes it incredible. We have a steady supply of this on hand at work and everyone in the office is obsessed. It keeps us productive.

Tennis. I got a text last night from a lady who I have played tennis with a few times asking if I wanted to play tennis this afternoon. What a perfect way to get out and enjoy the day?! It’s been way too long since I have played. I just hope I don’t embarrass myself! It’s actually probably very good timing, seeing as how now I have a good reminder that my “worth” is not based on my “performance” on the courts today!

I hope everyone has a blessed Sunday and a wonderful week ahead. Thanks for reading!