WE DID IT!!

This past Saturday, a girl friend and I set out to do the impossible... well, what seemed impossible for us at least!! Let me start from the beginning...

About 4-5 months ago at the neighborhood Bunco (yeah, I'm such a mom now!) over margaritas and cheese dip probably, one of the girls in the group mentioned training to walk or run the "Mini Marathon" (which is what us locals call the half-marathon that takes place every year about a week before the Kentucky Derby!) Of course, in my buzzed and stuffed state, I immediately declined the idea and went about my business.

Upon returning from our trip to see family in New York in January - 5 pounds heavier and not happy - I approached this girl to see if she was still interested in training for this hell-fest. She said yes ... yea!

Our training was HARD CORE and strenuous to say the least! It consisted of walking on Monday nights from about 8:00pm to 8:40pm (and then talking in the street for about 15 minutes) and then going home! As if this doesn't seem CRAZY enough, we also added a Thursday night walk in March (when we didn't have to wear 10 layers of clothing, gloves, ear muffs, etc...) which we probably ACTUALLY ended up doing 4-5 times since we are both so busy. So, obviously, we were not taking this lightly ... we were hard-core, going for the gold, training for this Mini!

(pause for those who are just now figuring out that I'm being sarcastic... I'm a lazy ass, you know I didn't really train for this thing!!)

On the morning of, dear dear Jamie offers to take us to the starting line so we don't have to take the shuttle and we could show up like 5 minutes before the race started (again, we are so professional!!) - this also allowed us about an extra hour of sleep!!

We heard the starting bell (no gun shot ... it's kind of a bad part of town, so I guess that would be in bad form) and literally 10 minutes later, we were actually able to start walking! I felt like we should take off running or something, but we paced ourselves beautifully (with help of our awesome heart rate monitors!) and with the motivation that the next "water stop" might have some left over Sport Jelly Beans left over from the so-called "elite runners" (which they did around mile 7!!) WE MADE IT THROUGH!!

One walk-through-the-park, Port-a-Potty stop, stroll-down-Southern-Parkway, loop-through-Churchill Downs, bee-line-to-downtown, and a swift jog over the finish line later and we had accomplished our goal of finishing in less than 3:30!!

Although we were both hurting pretty bad (although not so bad after the free Sun Chips and Michelob Ultras we got afterward!) we were impressed with ourselves and our strong finish! On our athletic high, we vowed to compete in future 5K runs and hopefully walk/jog the Mini next year!!

There is no telling what we can do if we ACTUALLY train for events in the future!! haha!

UPDATE!!!

Try this link to see pics of us running! Hopefully it will work!http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=46571&BIB=13355&PWD=

Sweet Deal @ J. Crew

For those of you who adore J. Crew like I do, and may still need some outfits for spring (or Derby!), I received a really cool email this morning!



How fun!

It's also kind of funny that there are only 2 stores in the entire state ... but still good to get some positive recognition!!

My task today, taking pics of Oaks and Derby outfits ... I'll post later!

Hello Spring!!

Spring is definitely here! How do I know? Well, there are a couple of clear-cut, indisputable signs!

1.) We almost turned our A/C on Saturday afternoon!
2.) I received my first official Kentucky-issued sunburn this weekend!

Saturday was also Thunder Over Louisville, which mean ... It's Derby time in the Ville and I am seriously so excited! As noted in a previous post, the outdoor activities surrounding Derby week (particularly those involving beer and bands: aka, Chow Wagon, etc...) are some of my favorite things about the Spring! My Oaks and Derby outfits are picked out (pink on Oaks, of course... for their breast cancer awareness event!) and hanging neatly in my closet (pics coming soon!) and all I need are a few finishing jewelry touches! Well, that's not entirely true....

As you know, Jamie and I went to Jamaica about three weeks ago, which was not particularly conducive to my 'eating healthier and working out to get in shape' resolution. In short, when we returned, my Derby dress was too tight in the hip area!!!! Not kidding!!! After the many expletives could be heard coming from my closet, I once again made a vow to work out and TRY to eat better and drink less in hopes that the 5-6 vacation pounds might melt off in time for Derby! I haven't tried it on in the last week ... I'll keep you posted on that, as well. Until then, I've been going to the gym about 4-5 times a week, plus walking!! Fingers crossed!

Off topic, we went to Costco today and it was INSANELY crowded!!! What's up with that? It was also pouring down rain, so the parking lot was a cluster-you-know-what, too! It's kind of funny because in the midst of the "huge recession" this country is going through, every shopping arena we have visited lately has been SO CROWDED... even on weekdays!! Maybe it's just everyone being excited about Derby!

I'll leave you with a pic of Connor doing his first pee-pee on the big boy potty (yes, this is the way we talk in our house now ... pathetic!) and Easter!


Connor's first big-boy pee!! (And, yes, I realize he'll hate me for posting this when he is in middle and high school ... but I'll also have incredible black mail pics!)

Easter with our family .... hahaha!

Picking the "flowers"!

Easter morning! The Easter Bunny came!

Such a goober!

No, I'm Not Dead

OK - so I suck at posting recently! know! Honestly, I haven't really been able to get back into the whole 'computer' thing since we returned from Jamaica! As hard as I thought it would be to not have computer and internet access for a week, it wasn't so bad ... enjoyable actually, and now I'm slowly getting back into it! I felt overwhelmed with the amount of emails and tasks I needed to do when we returned, so ignoring it all was much less challenging! My online shopping has even dwindled a bit (not totally, of course... but lessened, which is good!) and my blog writing, well, I think it's obvious!

BIG NEWS FLASH!!!!
Connor went pee-pee on his potty on Friday! YYYYEEEAAAAHHHH!! It was probably a total accident, but we are still so excited and proud of him for being such a big boy!! I just stripped his diaper off and sat him on his little potty next to me while I was going, and taa daa!! This is our next big item on the To Do List, along with so many other things!

We also had a great 18 month check-up at the doctor last week! Connor is only in the 25 percentile on height and weight, but 100% in his head circumference! Hold Crap! Yes, my child must have a huge head!! He did not, however, have a huge head at birth, which I consider a blessing straight from heaven (think about it ;) Connor also suffers from moderate to severe allergies (which isn't shocking considering how Jamie and I suffer and where we live) so they will determine if he'll need to start using a nebulizer (no idea how to spell that!) once he turns two. Boo! This crap he gave us better start working ASAP because I do not want to have to deal with this breathing machine bull-hockey!!

More great news.... I hear Connor awake upstairs and he still needs to nap for at least another hour.... dammit!! I guess I'll continue later!!

Until then, I leave you with Jamaica pics from the beach, our cheesy photo session with Sandals, our private pool, dinners, etc... The one where I'm making the loser sign with the TV in the background is from watching Louisville lose in basketball while sitting at a bar at the beach .... does it get any better than that??? :)

Things I've Learned in the Last Two Weeks!!

1.) Connor can now open doors in the house. I learned this when one day I found him half-way down the garage stairs after being in the restroom for like 2 seconds! As with everything having to do with motherhood (and pregnancy, in fact), just when you think you get to an easy stage, they find new ways to screw with you!

2.) I am now 26 years old. There is really nothing special about this age at all. In fact, I think it's the first completely meaningless birthday I've had since turning 16. Nothing comes with being 26. Nothing accept being a step closer to 30 ... then 40 ... grrr. I know I'll never regret marrying someone 9 years older than me ... I make him feel younger and he makes me feel younger ... fun how that works out, huh?! Sorry Jamie! :)

3.) There are no white people on Sesame Street anymore. Seriously. Have you watched it lately? You would think it was international programing with all the different languages and skin colors!! I'm all for diversity and instilling it in our children (because God knows we don't get a lot of it around here!!) but I think PBS has gone a little overboard with the political correctness!

4.) Connor can now say "No". In fact, he does things he knows he's not supposed to do just so he can say "No". Also, when he trys to say "horse" it sounds like "ass". Hilarious! Other new words: airplane, bread, trash, and dunk.

5.) Sucking at basketball and almost losing in an NIT game is just as frustrating as sucking in the regular and post-seasons. As a Kentucky basketball fan, I seriously never thought I would HAVE to watch an NIT game... much less be cheering for my own team in one! However, as a non-fair-weather-fan, I donned my UK duds to the gym this morning and canceled walking in the neighborhood with a friend so I could watch tonight's game. It got my heart racing just like when UK is in the NCAA tourney... who knew?

6.) When you stay up past 11 pm every night, you start to memorize the "acne treatment" and "phone personals" (aka - phone sex I guess!?) ads. It's depressing. They know exactly how to rope-in lonely people who are watching TV late at night by themselves! These ads are second in patheticness only to the ambulance chaser ads that air during the daytime TV shows literally every 5 seconds!

7.) I saw a truck yesterday with a "Hillary Clinton" AND a "McCain/ Palin" bumper sticker on the back of it and I just wanted to puke! Not only because Obama is our prez, so the jig is up, take the crap off your car already! They both lost!! Also, because that just screams racism to me. In my opinion, keeping those stickers on your car simultaneously, no matter what point we are at in the election process, just screams: "Anyone but the black guy!". Sad.

8.) Nicole Ricci AND Elizabeth Hasselback are prego again... am I seriously the last person to know everything?

So, I leave you with that wisdom as I get off the computer to go pack in preparation for our sans-baby trip to Jamaica!!