Depends

So at the gym tonight I was going to be all braggy and take a picture of the treadmill at mile 5 to post on this here blog, but then through Divine intervention, the treadmill freaked out on my last 10th of a mile and said I had run like 8.5 miles and that would've been a little too dishonest to post a picture of that.  So instead of posting a braggy picture, I'll just post another picture I took at the gym:

 I just. I don't. Does this really even have to be said?  Apparently so... My mom suggested I copy one of these to have by my pool.  Totally considering it.

Special Delivery!

Today Husband texted me a picture of a package I had received at home.  I excitedly called him and asked him to open it, because I am the world's most impatient person and don't like waiting for stuff.  He replied that he was no longer at home, so he couldn't open it.  The suspense was killing me!  So when I finally got home a couple of hours later, I was so excited to tear into the package!  I saw it was from my grandmother and just knew it was gonna be good!  And boys and girls, was I ever right!  Her and PawPaw had sent me a care package full of food they had canned! 

 They made salsa and tomato juice from their garden vegetables, fig preserves from their fig tree, and peach and strawberry preserves from fruit from a local farm.  We went out to dinner for my mother-in-law's birthday tonight and I was too stuffed to be able to try any of the stuff Nannie sent me, but you better believe I'll be tearing into those tomorrow!  My grandparents are awesome cooks and they're so good at canning stuff, I know I will not be let down.  I am one spoiled little granddaughter.  Thanks Nan and Paw!
And a very happy birthday to the best mother-in-law there is, Mrs. Lois! :)

The Positives! (In Pictures!)

After last week's rough day, I decided to do a post today on some positives.  Some of these are pretty small things, but sometimes it's the small things that remind us that the Lord has given us a wonderful life.  I am definitely a pessimist, and have to consciously work on seeing the positive things, no matter how small.  So here are some things I have been enjoying lately:

Pretty hydrangeas from my yard

A new "J" bookmark.  (kudos to whoever can figure out the book)

The book for our new Sunday School class

Grapes from my back yard

This awesome basket my sister brought me from her farmer's market.  

It is just begging for some Pinterest action!

A Husband who can cook!

My (half naked) niece and (fully clothed) sister coming to see me last week

In-laws who are funny and generous and love me

An email folder full of emails from my Nannie

And parents who still know how to have fun.  

(Chick-fil-a Cow Appreciation Day)

What are some things you're enjoying in your life right now?

Face lift!

Well, got a little face lift today.  Nooo, not me, silly!  My blog!  I changed some things around, and added a little more information.  Besides the change in background, you should now be able to see this at the top of the page:

These are links to various new pages.  One is an about me page, which is just a quick blurb about who I am, for those of you who are new.  Following that are links to my Pinterest, Flickr, and Goodreads pages.  I post a pretty good bit of stuff on my Pinterest (303 pins and counting) and Goodreads account (101 books rated and counting), and will probably be adding some new stuff to my Flickr photo account soon as well. 
On the right hand side of the page you'll also notice some new stuff.  One is a "popular posts" reel, that shows you my most viewed posts.  Below that is an archive section, for you to look up past posts.  Possibly my favorite new feature is below that, the "follow by email" section.  This allows people who don't have gmail accounts, to still "follow" my blog through their email.  You can enter in your email address, so that you get an email whenever I write a new post.  It's pretty simple, just type in your email address, and then you will receive a confirmation email.  Just follow the instructions in that email, and you're set to go! 
I hope these changes make the website easier to navigate.  Let me know what you think!

100 Miles!

So today, while looking at my fitness tracker, I noticed something interesting.  I just hit the 100 mile mark!  Meaning, since my birthday on April 20th, I have ran 100 miles.  So as far as my goal goes, I am 8 miles ahead of schedule.  Yay!

I wish I could say, "Oh yeah, that was so easy."  But friends, I didn't enjoy a single one of those miles!  Haha!  That being said, my body itself appreciated it, and I have been able to tell a difference.  I read a quote the other day that said something about the best part of working out is the moment when your body does something it couldn't do a month ago.  And I thought about that for a minute, and if you had told me back in April, that I would be running 4.75 miles with no problem just a few months later, I would've laughed.  But now I realize just what my body is capable of, and if I just get my mind in gear, it will surprise me.  I still don't feel like I'm a "runner" but perhaps after 900 more miles, and listening to Vanessa Carlton's decade old hit song a couple more times I'll begin to feel like that title fits me.  :)

Bad Day.

Despite the fact that my wonderful sister and niece came down to spend a couple of days with me, I had a pretty rotten day today.  If they hadn't been here, I probably would be sitting on the couch right now eating a whole tub of ice cream.  But thankfully, they are here to cheer me up, so I'm sitting here watching my niece count change and catching up with my sister instead. 
A couple of reasons I had a bad day:
As some of you may know, my last semester of college, I completed a full time internship with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.  This morning I found out that the former Special Agent in Charge of the region where I completed my internship, Denise Norman, passed away this morning.  She was always so incredibly nice to me during my internship and was such a great teacher.  She was so patient, and understanding when there was something I didn't understand, or when she knew I needed to talk through something.  She was amazing at her job and always brought a smile to people's faces with her humor and genuine kindness.  One of her fellow agents said today that "The GBI will not be the same without her!" and he could not be more right.  I wish there were more people like her in this world, and it saddens me that we are without her now.  I will always be grateful for the influence she had on me.  Please keep her family and fellow agents in your prayers.

Denise is on the far right

  As if that wasn't enough bad news for the day.  My sister called me at about 2:30pm and said "um a tree just fell on your fence."  Her and Emma were hanging out at my house, waiting for me to get home from work, when the wind started blowing and it started raining.  They heard a loud bang and ran to the window to see a huge tree on our fence. 

 The tree completely took out the left half of our gate, and attempted to take down the right half.  It split several other boards as well.  Not a hugely expensive fix, just frustrating.  And yes, I know a fallen tree is not the end of the world, it just seemed like one thing after another today.  Hope ya'll are having a better week than I am.  And I promise I'll be more uplifting tomorrow.  Might even put some cute pictures of my favorite niece! 
 

My Dad is funny

So my Dad is pretty much one of the funniest people I know.  We have a very similar sense of humor, and he's definitely one of the most amusing people to text.  He has taken up running, along with me, my mom, and sister and we're all so proud of how well he is doing.  So he texted me this morning asking me to find us a 5K race to sign up for in October so that we'll have a goal to go towards.  I asked him what kind of race he was wanting me to find, since there are so many different kind nowadays, and his reply gave me a little chuckle.  See for yourself:

Me on the right, dad on the left

Yeah, I should have noooo problem finding a race to meet his demands, right?  At least he thought of mom's prize as well. :)  But yeah, that would definitely be the most awesome race ever!