the countdown continues.

1. the smell of spring rain. (i really think it's the smell of dirt, but nonetheless, i love it.)
2. anthropologie volcano capri blue candle.
3. ruffles.
4. my girlie girl carrying her baby everywhere.
5. photoshop + rad lab. awesome.
6. new girl.
7. worship music.
8. the weather channel.
9. pink peonies.
10. project life.
11. the new PW cookbook. love it all.
12. phillip phillips. american idol. done.
13. fresh produce.
14. conversations about heaven with my little man.
15. sweet text messages.
16. Jesus Calling.
17. generous people.
18. my accountability group.
19. wal.mart.
20. city craft.
21. grapefruit.
22. sleep.
23. new friends.
24. watercolors.
25. green monster smoothies.
26. the lake.
27. comfort food. (*confession* i'm a stress eater)
28. leaving my windows open all day long.
29. nail polish.
30. cucumber water.


***ps - i saw this idea on some person's blog a while ago, but i can't quite remember where it was. just wanted you to know it was not my idea***

thirty things.

 via.

it's official.

i only have one more week in my twenties.

it's weird. kinda sorta in a not-sure-how-i'm-feeling kinda way.

i don't think i have any problem whatsoever with being thirty. or being in my thirties. from almost all accounts your thirties are great... you're still young. you're more sure of yourself than you were in your twenties. you have a direction. all that good stuff.

but the turning thirty.... that may be a little more difficult to swallow for me for some reason.

if you know me personally, i would hope you'd say i'm pretty laid back. i don't really work myself up too much over anything, really. and i would hope you'd say that i'm not terribly dramatic about things. so i'm really not trying to work this up.... just keepin' it real, y'all.

so i'm trying to look forward. to my next list, of what i want to do in my thirties....

until then, here are thirty things i'm thankful for (in no particular order).

1. my best friends, old & new, who continually give me grace & encouragement. you know who you are and i love you more than words can say.
2. my two healthy (and beautiful) children.
3. a roof over my head that i call my home.
4. my parents who love me unconditionally.
5. spring weather & daylight savings time. love.
6. tweety bird & her friend nesting on my patio.
7. my new computer. beyond blessed but so in love with it.
8. our wonderful church.
9. pinterest. enough said.
10. my love affair with fabuloso cleaner. thank you ashley hall.
11. iced grande skinny caramel macchiato. done.
12. on that note, splenda.
13. my daily devotional.
14. a tire full of air.
15. my artsy (albeit sometimes flakey) side.
16. living less than a mile from my friends. the best thing about this move. the. best.
17. sitting on the backporch with the hubbs. my favorite thing to do. thankful for that precious time.
18. the internet. with all the bad, there really is a ton of good. thankful for all of the continuing education available online.
19. color. i know it's silly, but i. love. color. and i think it's amazing that our God created that. wow.
20. baseball. go rangers.
21. freedom.
22. our puppy dog.
23. the campaign.
24. my talented sister, and a successful surgery this week for her. so thankful for the healing process to begin.
25. green grass.
26. a covered patio. (see #17 and #6)
27. girl scout cookies.
28. project life.
29. my ah-mazing hottie of a husband who loves me with all of my horrible faults, accepts me as i am and makes me a better person. i love him love him love him. he is my favorite.
30. my twenties. for rounding me out & making me the person i am today. i've grown so much & yet so little.... and for that, i'll always love my twenties.

thirty things update. part two.

a few weeks ago i updated you on my thirty things list.

you can check out part one here.

so - i thought i'd finish the update now that i am only three months away from the big three-oh.

16. travel internationally.

well. i made this list two years ago. and i had already gone to cabo, so i can't really count that. this doesn't look like it will be happening before my birthday. i was really thinking european vacay with the hubby... but nope. won't be going anytime soon. i'll have to move this to my next list. :)

17. start crafting.

done. check it out. here. here. and here. 

18. start a collection.

coffee cups. unintentionally, but coffee cups. lots and lots of cups.

19. turn photos into some sort of scrapbook.

ummm. yeah. i think i've got this covered with project life. i've never ptrinted more photos than i have in the last year!

20. go on a random getaway with the hubbs

technically, it was for valentine's day last year, but it was a surprise and it was a random weekend... so i count it.


check our trip to fredericksburg out here.

21. hand write notes/letters to friends & family.

major major fail. my intention on this was to not include thank you notes - but lately, i'm doing good to even get those out.

22. have a garage sale.

another major fail.

a garage sale sounds like a great idea, but is it really? part of me would just rather give stuff away.... any thoughts on this? have you had a garage sale?


23. make creme brulee.

wooohooo. victorious on this one. my brother game a kitchen torch for a christmas a few years ago so i really wanted to try this. it wasn't near as hard as i thought it would be, although i was super duper nervous when i actually used the torch. i think j took a video of me!


they were delicious. i used PW's recipe.

24. learn how to change my own tire.

haven't done this yet. haven't really had the opportunity but there's still three months, right? maybe the hubbs should teach me over the next few weekends?? 

25. make organization a habit.

ummm.... still working on this one. think i always will be working on this one. it just doesn't come natural to me, although i love things when they're organized. don't we all?

26. fold laundry straight from the dryer.

i'm getting so much better at this. i really am! it helps if i fold it right in the laundry room instead of piling it on my bed or the couch to fold.


it's the chore i loathe the most.


27. start a vegetable garden.

i did it!

last spring i planted bell peppers, cilantro, strawberries, jalapenos and habaneros. the peppers took over. the cilantro bloomed, which was weird, and the strawberries got a disease really early on.

either way, it was fun and with all of the salsa and veggies i eat in the summer the peppers did me well.

 
28. join a civic organization or a committee.

done. it's more of a club - don't know if that's what i was going for when i wrote this particular 'goal' but i think it fits the bill.

i joined Golden Corridor Republican Women's Club.


29. work on a political campaign.

umm, yeah. how bout living a political campaign?

i had no idea that this would be where we are. i think i was thinking more working on someone like tom leppert's campaign or ken paxton - or even a presidential candidate in a very small volunteer role.


either way. i was blown away when i looked over this list a few weeks ago and this was number 29.


pretty ironic.

30. document this list.

i originally wanted to have this neat little hand crafted book to look at. but that didn't hold up. but - i did just document the list, right? and i've blogged about it either here or on my old blog {which a lot of the older posts were taken from, btw}.


either way, it's been fun having a list. i highly recommend it.

what i find fascinating is how many things on my list have been crossed off without being intentional about... for example the political campaign. or the vegetable garden.

i think there's something to be said about really thinking about some goals and writing them down for safe keeping, huh?

as my twenties draw to a close, i want to be very intentional about what i put on my next list. 35 things before i'm 35. i have some things in mind. some big. some small. i'm excited for it to take shape!


what do you think should be on my list.

thirty before thirty update. part one.

for the 2010 new year, i did my resolutions a bit differently.

i had seen this idea before so many places, i can't remember exactly which one sparked my interest so greatly, but nevertheless, i made my list.

thirty things to do before i turn thirty.

well. i think about this list often.

and i don't think about it often.

it's funny. i have some of the bigger things in my mind on a constant basis. on the lookout for an opportunity to cross things off my list in the next few months.

and then some things i've totally forgotten that i put on my list. it's not like i have it constantly out and think "what's next?" it was made with a lot of thought - and interestingly enough a LOT of things have gotten 'crossed off' without even intentionally doing it!

what brought all of this up in the first place? well. i was RUDELY reminded on sunday during our sunday school bible fellowship class that i only have a few short months left and was asked how my list was doing.

so i took a look. during sunday school. {sorry justin, but it's your fault!}

and i thought i'd give a little update.

so - here's an update on the first half:

1. run a 1/2 marathon. done.

2. date night with the Hubbs once a month. 

what was i thinking??? this is nearly impossible if you want to call a date a date. we almost always have a babysitter once a month - but it's mostly for birthday parties, political events, or something like that. not necessarily a date date.

we're good at at-home dates though. especially friday nights. dinner after the littles go to bed. renting a movie. etc. can i count that? hmm. it's my list.

i think i will.

3. read more than i watch t.v.

umm. nope. not done. by far. 

wait - unless you count US weekly? nope. i don't count that.

{see, i'm at least fair, right?}

4. ride a horse. NOT done. 

{where did this come from? i wanted to be a barrel racer growing up. before high school boy-crazy hormones and moodiness kicked in.}

5. learn to sew. done. and done.

{although i haven't done it since we moved. no 'workspace'. that's on my christmas list!}

6. take an art class. 

i totally forgot this one was on my list. but i have had my eye on these classes. i've been waiting for an extra $50 to spend on an 'art class'.... but i think i might just have found a solution!

7. memorize scripture.

okay - this one is kind of vague. and i haven't 'intentionally' memorized scriputre. but i have read certain scriptures over and over to the point of memorization. i think this one will be a long time lifelong goal that will never be 'reached' necessarily. hmm.... i'll have to remember that for my next list.

8. share my faith with a stranger.

i'd say yes, i've done this. more over the last three months than ever in my life. sharing what i think, what i believe and why. sharing my convictions with people who have no idea who i am or where i come from. it's been exhillarating. challenging. exhausting.

9. reconnect with old friends.

i was doing really well on this one last year. not so much in the recent months. but part of me thinks that relationships need to be reciprocal. why continue to pursue relationships that are conitnually rejected? i know i'm flaky too. don't get me wrong. and i seriously don't mean to be, my mind is just elsewhere. a lot. i just feel like i should call myself blessed as it is in my friendships instead of trying to get as many friends as i can. quantity vs. quality. i don't know. it's something i'm wrestling with.

one of my favorite reconnections though is this lovely lady.  we chat often. she's my favorite. 

10. have a second child. done. {well done, if i do say so myself!}

11. develop relationships with neighbors.

hmmmmm. this is difficult since we just moved. must work on this one over the next few months.

12. volunteer in our youth group.

i love our youth group. we hosted a freedom house last year. {aka disciple now for those old school baptists out there}. loved it. the hubbs and i were praying this summer about leading small groups in the youth this year - and then the campaign came up and we decided that was going to need to be where our energy was. 

but i love them. i love high school students. and i feel for them. i can't imagine the temptations and complications they are facing today. i love their hearts. they are a blessing to me. we were poured into as youth in the youth group... and we desperately want to pour out to them now. paying it forward. it made such a huge difference in our lives. as i'm sure it did in some of your lives!

13. try new recipes. done and done and done!

i've made this kind of a habit lately. {well - not if you count since the move and all that...}

guess who helped? the pioneer woman of course.

i've cooked her cookbook back and forth. fried chicken, chicken fried steak, enchiladas, pico de gallo, biscuits {yuck!}, jalapeno poppers. everything.

and pinterest helps with this. a LOT.

and next year i think i'll be trying something different. more on that soon.

14. join a book club. done.

although sometimes it's more of a girls' night out than book club. 

we started off with PW's new book. which i LOVED. easy peasy read.

then we read water for elephants. it's okay. :)

i can't remember what we're supposed to be reading now. hmm.... maybe i should get on that?

15. go on a mission trip.

well. i was really hoping to do this one. but i don't think it's going to happen. i had told the hubbs that i would count the campaign as my mission trip... but i can't. you'll see why in part two!!!!

and there you have it. the update. part one.

how does your garden grow?

why is it that on the days that i have prayed specifically for patience in the morning {before the day even gets going} i am tested beyond my wildest nightmares dreams?

that's how this friday is going so far. 

one thing right after another. it's almost laughable. almost, but i'm not. quite. laughing.

but these pictures i took yesterday from my beds make me HAPPY.

can you believe that god has such an imagination? i love watching flowers {and strawberries... and whatever else...} grow from a bulb to a bud to a bloom.... sometimes i think the way that my brain works {the creative way} is 'good-for-nothing'. but then i see this and think that our loving father is the creator of all imagination and beauty. how could he ever have dreamed this up? flowers that are all different. all unique. every last one.

and flowers that turn into fruit. or vegetables... or herbs. 

i mean, how can i think that creativity is good-for-nothing??

love.

have a happy weekend! hopefully your kids are behaving {if applicable}.

excuse me while i go wrangle the supposed-to-be-napping 3 year old that i hear above me jumping on his bed.

away.

that's where we've been.

away.

and it was nice. so nice, in fact, that i really didn't even want to come back.

to reality.

oh yes, i'm a bad mommy, i know. not wanting to come back.

i did want to come back and get some really good cuddle time in as well as a few kisses... but then i wanted to go back.

i guess being a grandparent IS all that it's cracked up to be? right?

anyway.

back to being away.

a few weeks ago... the hubbs came home & told me that he was taking me outta here. what? for no reason? yup. {well, kinda...}

first up?

a pit stop in marble falls.

a cool, little town.

we stayed at the holiday inn express. 

it was truly the nicest holiday inn i've ever stayed at. seriously. if you have to make a pit stop... stop here. it was clean AND pretty. {and it smelled great}.

oh yeah - and we woke up saturday morning with this view of the hill country.

ahhhh..... doesn't it just make you feel good?

yup.

friday night we ate late-night-style at the chili's in town. chips & queso. yum. and it was 11:00 p.m. when we got there. but there were no littles! so we could. and we did.

and it was awesome.

saturday morning we ate breakfast here.

yumm.y.

so good. it was one of those places that you seriously think about having a piece of pie for dessert. at 10 in the morning. wow.

then we took off for our next destination.

not before stopping in a few little towns to go antiquing. and take pictures.

{can you guess why we had to take this picture? ha. the hubbs & his love for past presidents.}

we made it to fredericksburg around noon.

we ate lunch.

we checked in to our b&b {thanks for the recommendation, dave}.

it was beautiful.

& secluded.

with a hammock in the back yard.

ahhh.mazing.

just what the doctor ordered. no spit up or diaper genies within a 100 mile radius.

after a few {okay, several} miscelaneous purchases, we ate dinner. on a patio. listening to music.

there was music everywhere. & patios everywhere. yaya.

have you ever seen a chicken fried steak this big? i didn't think so.

THEN... for the grand finale on saturday night, we went here.

and really, it deserves it's own post. but i didn't take my camera in. because i was too busy two-steppin' with my hubby. and listening to rosie flores.  who is awesome. and is older than our parents.

so.much.fun.

i took a video. but you can't see much.

we were in a different world.

first of all, there's nothing in luckenbach. just the dance hall. you'd miss it if you weren't looking for it.

we walked up around 9. there were 5 or 6 men who were probably days away from the end, no joke as old as our grandparents just having a jam session. on picnic tables. with a banjo, a harmonica & a fiddle. seriously. i felt like i was in a scene from a movie. {like crazy heart or true grit - but i've never seen either of those so i can't really say}. it was awesome.

then it was 10. and the real band started to play in the dance hall. and everyone just sorta got up and went inside. and put their drinks down and started dancing.

and not like swing-dancing-at-the-prom dancing. or i-think-i-know-how-to-do-this dancing. like, really, really dancing. these people were serious. and they didn't ever sit down. just took a break to take a sip of their beer and then go back to dancing. all ages. younger than us all the way up to WAY older than us. it was awesome.

and my hubby wasn't half bad either. i've been begging him for YEARS to take me dancing. {we went when were dating to PR's in ft. worth & he thought way less of it than i did}. we stayed for two hours. until the band took a break. i was just learning how to let him lead we were just getting the hang of it. but we.were.pooped. man, that dancing will wear you out.

so we headed home.

and slept on the most.comfortable.bed.ever. seriously. jeff told me to call and find out what kind of sheets and mattress pad they had. it was that comfy.

wow. i wrote  a lot.

more tomorrow. {or saturday, whenever i can weed my way through my laundry & dirty dishes....}

nighty night.

we did it.

At the crack of dawn on Sunday, my running buddies and I met up to drive downtown with our hubbies for the Rock 'N' Roll Half Marathon! {Of course, it was also the first day of Daylight Savings Time, so we lost even another hour of sleep!} The story goes a little like this:




On the Thursday before the race, I started feeling a little 'tickle' in my chest. My first thought was, "oh no - I'm coming down with something" so I loaded up on all the medication I could find to kick it before it even started. Well - it didn't happen. I DID come down with a nasty chest cold.... in a matter of 24 hours. I told the Hubbs that I would walk the entire thing if I had to... I had not come this far to quit - no matter what the circumstances.


So - on Saturday, amidst my terrible cough, Julie, Joanna and I trucked it downtown to the Convention Center to pick up our race packets - and experience what is known as the "Fitness Expo". Wow.... what an experience!! So many people... so many free samples! We kept looking at each other and saying, "are we really here? are we really going to do this?" I do have to say that throughout our training, we each thought that there would come a point where we'd give up. BUT WE DIDN'T! The point here is that if we can do it, ANYONE can do it. We're not exaggerating when we say that!


After the expo, we met up with our hubbies and Kaytie and Josh {Kaytie was also running in the race - just a bit ahead of us :) } for a yummy pasta dinner at Maggiano's. Yum Yum. We met at 5:30 and we all had the goal of being in bed by 8:30. NONE of us slept well though {including my hubby} because we were concerned that the time change wouldn't kick in on our alarms and we'd miss the race!!! Wouldn't that be awful?




Sunday finally arrived. It was pitch black when we left the house... bagel, banana and coffee in my hand, we headed to meet Joanna and Julie. The Husbands dropped us off at the starting point around 7, I took a swig of my cough syrup and we headed into McDonalds for one last potty stop. {We weren't about to go in a port-a-potty when there was a perfectly 'sanitary' and warm potty to go to}. Turns out we weren't the only ones with that idea! We waited 35 minutes for the potty. In line, we met some other girls that were running for the first time too. They kept asking "are we crazy to think we can do this?" We could only laugh - because we were thinking the same thing!!


8:00 rolls around... the first wave starts. We slowly, I repeat SLOWLY, move up to the start. I think we finally started around 8:25. The first two miles, my chest hurt pretty bad, then we saw my parents, they cheered loudly for us, and we pushed forward. It warmed up pretty quickly and the first time I even thought about feeling tired was around mile 7. I walked through a water stop, just a few steps so I could get some good water, and started running again... feeling much better. Then the next thing I know, we see our hubbies and a big purple sheet that had "RUN RUN RUN" spray painted on it, hanging from a truck bed on Mockingbird. What a pick-me-up!


The next wall I hit was around mile 10.... and it was really me thinking that I needed some water to cool down... and there wasn't another water station until mile 11.5! After I got my water, I felt great - and finished strong! We finished in 2 hours 31 minutes.... an 11:31 pace. {Although my watch told me it was 2 hours 29 minutes and an 11:27 pace - which I like to go with}.


I could NOT have done this without my running buddies.... or without the incredible support of The Hubbs. He encouraged me when I was sore or feeling overwhelmed by a 10 mile run on a Saturday morning. He's in for the next one, by the way. The atmosphere was so fun on this one... not that I have anything to compare it too! :)


Enjoy the pictures!

before the race. before the crack of dawn.

a sea of people. {we were always cheered for as 'team purple'}.

again - a sea of people on mockingbird.

13,000 people to be exact.

here we are when we first see the sheet.

again- laughing at the sheet.

{why am I so short? i don't look like a runner!}

with my hard-earned medal.

my sweet parents.

they met us three times throughout the course.

a much-needed distraction for all of us.