things i love

I Like the Way You Work It T-shirt

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The Summit Church Lip Sync Battle
This is my pastor, y'all!



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My Ivory Kate Wire Wrap Headbands
I look like Rosie the Riveter when I wear them but I still adore them. Great way to jazz up an outfit.

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The little bow tie I got for Josh from Little Mr.
It buttons on his shirt and doesn't go around his neck and it's so stinkin' cute. He was excited about wearing it for school picture day and he just beams when you tell him he's handsome.

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My niece dancing
I don't know if the video is short enough to load but if it is then please ignore my horrible singing




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Salted Caramel Gu
I've finally gotten my stomach to adjust to taking gels and Gu on long runs and my favorite flavor by far has become the Salted Caramel Gu Energy Gel. I like it so much that I bought a case on Amazon. It's like dessert and running at the same time. My favorites! Yum!

What are you loving today? Let me know in the comments.

by the numbers + recent giveaway winner announced

Agh! edit: I wrote this Friday but it didn't publish

• 36 days until we get a break from school (and even then it's just a workday)
• 7 days until the Dixie Classic Fair begins
• 122 miles run in September so far 
• 50 days until I run Richmond
• 7 long runs left (I really only count 4 of those since they're above 14 miles)
• 10 pounds lost since mid-August
• 10 years ago now that I had lasik eye surgery
• 27 days until Josh turns 5 (FIVE!)
• 24 days until our 12th anniversary (TWELVE!)
• 66 ounces of water I've had today and it's only 2 pm (I'm hydrating, baby!

Last but not least, many congratulations to Marilyn Miller who was selected to receive the $25 certificate and copy of Ted Dekker's A.D. 30 from my last giveaway!

A.D. 30

Ted Dekker has been one of my favorite authors for well over a decade. I first discovered him when I randomly picked up Thr3e at a bookstore at the beach.  It was such a good book that I couldn't put down and while I hated the movie I watched later, I quickly learned that he was a phenomenal author.

I've read many of his books over the years and I recently devoured Outlaw then quickly followed it with Dekker's newest book A.D. 30 which is due to be released next month and you can PreBuy A.D. 30 by Ted Dekker for just $14.97 at FamilyChristian.com. Like a lot of Dekker's book the newest one is full of adventure, conflict, struggles, and mystery. It's one you won't want to stop reading until you figure it out and you'll mull over it even when you're not reading. It's like a fast-paced puzzle.

One thing that I like most about Dekker's writing is that he incorporates religious undertones in all of his novels... a conflict between good and evil and a basic Biblical truth in each story.  But I also like that the religion part isn't so strong that you don't enjoy the fiction part of the book. At any rate, I think you'll enjoy this thriller regardless of whether or not you're not a Christian.

And here's the fun part. I'm hosting a giveaway for one of my lucky readers to win a copy of A.D. 30 by Ted Dekker and a $25 appreciation certificate. The giveaway is limited to the US and will close Tuesday at midnight. A winner will be chosen Wednesday morning 9/24. You can enter below.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post but was provided a copy of the book. The views expressed above are simply my own opinions. The links included are affiliate links and the $25 appreciation certificate is provided by Family Christian stores.

i'm going with spoiled (plus the giveaway winner announced)

Congratulations to Beth for winning the 10 Things for Teen Girls giveaway!  I've got another book giveaway coming soon and this one comes with a $25 gift card so stay tuned!

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Apparently I've been living under a rock for the last ten years or so. You see, we got a new car on Friday. Our other cars were over ten years old and having a few aches and pains and we'd been in the market for a more reliable vehicle for a couple of months.

So I know this is old news to everyone except me but you guys! My car can connect to my phone and call people while I drive! I can text with voice commands! It can play my audio book as soon as I start the car and then pause it and save my place when I turn the car off! It can start without a key and unlock just by a touch of the handle with the keys in my pocket!

I've never had a car with a touchscreen GPS navigation system or a car with a back-up camera. I've never had a car that streams satellite radio and certainly not one with only 3 miles on it. I'm either way behind the rest of the world or I'm incredibly spoiled. You decide.

I say life is good, y'all!

up to

Wishing

• We haven't been anywhere since July 4th so a nice beach trip would be wonderful right about now. This is my favorite time of the year to go to the beach but our condo is rented up until the end of September. I hope we can squeeze in a trip in October.
• Today is an early release day in our schools. We've not had this before in our county and the last county that I worked in had them but teachers got out later than a typical school day because they were crammed full of meetings. I am crossing my fingers that is not the case today.
• We've been in the market for a new car for a couple of months now and we think we have finally made a deal on one that's coming to a local dealership September 24th. Since our other cars are all having a few hiccups September 24th can't get here soon enough.
• Julianna is still trying to adjust to a new school and make new friends and she's scheming to start a loom bracelet business. She made up a contract to pass out among her classmates in case there was anyone who wanted to help her. It really made me smile, but I'm hopeful that her 3rd grade business plan doesn't cause any problems or huge disappointments.

Running

• I realized today that there are only 5 more LONG long runs before my marathon. We have a few 14 mile recovery days left on the schedule but only 5 runs are 18+ miles. Yikes!
• I've had some good speedwork days lately, but my long runs have been horrible. This fact has made me really nervous for those last five long runs. Gotta step up my training!

Eating

• I've lost 7 pounds since I started back to work four weeks ago. I'm almost certainly going to win my current DietBet and that feels so good.
• I'm probably going to keep up the sensible eating but not focus so much on moving the scale for the rest of the marathon training.
• I made sweet potatoe chips in the dehydrator the other night. They were supposed to be salt and vinegar but they really turned out more like regular potato chips. Still delicious!

Reading

• I've recently finished Pure by Julianna Baggot, 10 Things for Teen Girls by Kate Conner (giveaway closes tomorrow! go enter to get a copy!), and now I'm working on two Ted Dekker books. He is one of my all time favorite authors and I've got a great giveaway coming up for one of those as well so stay tuned.
• Julianna's class has been reading City of Ember and I've got it in my queue. Has anyone read this book? I'm anxious to read along with her.

Watching

• I've been closing out the summer with mindless TV aka Big Brother.
• I'm super pumped about The Maze Runner coming out in theaters next week. Anyone want to babysit so I can go see it?
• We're finally about to finish House of Cards which we've been watching slowly. We lost interest for a while in the middle but picked it back up again when we had nothing better to watch and in my opinion it's gotten back to being as entertaining as it was in the beginning.
• I feel like I ask this all the time, but I really need some show recommendations. We loved Breaking Bad, Orange Is The New Black was decent, we're sad that HIMYM's final season hasn't come out on Netflix yet, and when we watch the last episode of House of Cards we'll need something else to start watching. Take it away, folks! What do you watch on TV?

teen things + giveaway

As a middle school teacher, I am all too familiar with the struggles teen girls face everyday. Ladies, do you remember what it was like to want to wear a top that your Mama took one look at and declared, "Absolutely not!"  Do you remember how you felt when your best friend made a hurtful comment about your friendship and all you wanted to do was retaliate by trying to make everyone in the whole school see how stuck up she acts? Do you remember thinking about nothing else other than how you look?

I remember those feelings all too well and with an almost nine year old daughter I'm afraid I'm getting close to reliving those feelings all over again. That's why I was so excited to read 10 Things for Teen Girls by Kate Conner. In each chapter of the book she lays out one topic that young girls today struggle with and she breaks it down to what's really at the heart of the matter. She quotes scripture but doesn't force it down your throat and she leaves you with a truth. The end of each chapter offers journaling or discussion questions which makes it a great book for a group or for a gift for a girl you know.

I picked up this book and read it in a couple of days. It wouldn't be a long, tedious read for a young girl so you won't get an eye roll (especially 'cause there's adorable stick figure drawings all throughout the book). The author's got a great sense of humor and she shoots straight from the hip, but not in an offensive way. I think her writing style is one that will resonate well with teenagers and I highly recommend the book for anyone who has a teen daughter or works with one.

And now for the fun part! Family Christian has generously provided a copy of the book for one of you. The giveaway is limited to the US and a winner will be chosen Thursday night. You can enter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post but was provided a copy of the book. The views expressed above are simply my own opinions.

glasses schmasses

Jonathan and I both had LASIC eye surgery to correct our vision about ten years ago. We found our old glasses last weekend and we put them on in our bathroom and were laughing at ourselves hysterically. Julianna heard the commotion and came in the room.

She's been wearing glasses full-time now for about a year and while the eye doctor told her that she really only had to wear them as needed to see the board, I think she's realized how helpful they are and also her vision has probably worsened.  She pretty much wears them all the time now.  She was wanting a case for them that doesn't snap shut so loudly like hers does and I knew I had one around the house somewhere so that's why I was looking for my old glasses.

Anyway, she came in and found us taking pictures of ourselves with really out-of-date frames on and I was practically crying because the prescription lenses hurt my eyes so much and because I was laughing so hard. But then she tried on my old glasses.  She said, "Wow! I can really see with these!"

goals update

This year I resolved to:

• drink less coffee

• run a marathon

• read 40 books

• spend less money on crap I already have

• wear my hair in a ponytail less

• finally get rid of the Appletini mix that's been in my fridge since something like 2007

• lose 15 more pounds (unfortunately, I think this one holds a permanent spot on my resolution list)

So let's see how I'm doing on each of these, m'kay?

Drink Less Coffee
I don't know that I have done this. I have taken the sugar out of my coffee though. That counts for something, right?

Run a Marathon
You've read about this ad'nauseum but the short version of the story is that I finished my first marathon in April. Since I was very disappointed in the result I signed up for another one that's in seventy three days (EEEKKK!).

Read 40 Books
I've currently read something like 30 books which gives me about 15.5 weeks to read ten more. Doable but going to be difficult. Anyone have recommendations for me? Also, I've got two book giveaways coming up soon so stay tuned if you like to read.

Spend Less on Things I Already Have
I *think* I've done this one. I've tried to remember that the best way to save money is to not spend it but I've been going at it with Julianna about her not wanting to wear clothes that I spent tons of good money on so perhaps I'll need to be a bit more intentional with this one and really buckle down on not buying items that we won't use or items that we already have something that could work for the same purpose.

Get Rid of the Appletini Mix
Sadly, this is the easiest one and I don't think I've done it yet. I'll try to remember tonight.

Wear My Hair in a Ponytail Less
I've definitely been hit or miss on this one. It's a work in progress. My recent hair cut helps but this week's upper ninety degree temperature don't.

Lose 15 More Pounds
I spent an hour earlier this week looking back at data on all of the weight loss sites and apps that I've used and looking through my blog archives to try to figure out what my lowest weight has been since having children. I discovered that I weighed 137 when I got pregnant with Julianna nine years ago and I weighed 147 when I got pregnant with Josh 5 years ago.  I've reached 147 a couple of times since then (most recently in October 2012 when we went to Mexico) but I've mostly stayed around 150. I've never made it back to 137, my pre-pregnancy weight. So I think that's going to be my goal.

I started a DietBet a couple of weeks ago and I now weigh 146. I'm not going to do another one when this one is over but I am going to try to maintain that 7 pound loss. Since I'm training for a marathon I know that's going to be tough. After the race is over though I intend to work toward that 137 number. Maybe I'll finally lose all of my baby weight by the time my oldest child turns 9. Maybe.

How are you doing on your goals? What are you working on? I'm constantly looking for ways to improve myself so please share your ideas in the comments.

goodbye, august

August, by the numbers:

1 book read
4 books started
5.5 pounds lost
94 degrees forecast for tomorrow
2 races on the calendar
121.3 miles run
1 pint of blood donated
3 cars test-driven
5 days of school completed
6 billion sighs over sleeping babies