ABC's of Me

I was blog surfing and found this that someone had posted. It's a little silly, but fun to do! 

1. Age: 24
2. Bed size: Queen
3. Chore you hate: Cooking!
4. Dogs:  My little 4 month old baby Golden Retriever, Dexter
5. Essential start to your day: COFFEE. Every day.
6. Favorite color:  Green..??
7. Gold or silver:  Gold
8. Height: 5'2 1/2
9. Instruments that you can play: Does Mary Had A Little Lamb on the piano count?
10. Job: Work in the buying department at Belk Corporate
11. Kids: NONE! Not for a loooong time.
12. Live:  Charlotte, NC
13. Mom’s name: Cheryl
14. Nicknames: Jamerz...Small Fry
15. Overnight hospital stays: When I was little I had a concucion for falling out of a swing
16. Pet peeve: Loud Breathers. People who eat loud
17. Quote from a movie: "It's go time", "Oohh, the big speech", "Be yourself, be yourself", "Honey, what are you doing any Joyce's?" -Just Friends. I could literally quote that movie all day!
18. Righty or lefty: Righty
19. Sibling: Only child
20. Time you wake up: If I'm working out, 5:00. If I'm not working out, 6:45-7:00.
21.  Underwear: "It's a thong!"
22. Vegetables you dislike: Squash
23. What makes you run late: My dog, Dex when he doesn't listen and won't use the bathroom outside! 
24. X-rays: huh? 
25. Yummy food you make: Reeses chocolate peanut butter cupcakes, my hubby's favorite :)
26. Zoo favorite animal: Girraffe, they are so funny looking!

Feather Holiday?

For the past several days I've been debating on how I am going to decorate for Christmas this year. We are in a new place which calls for new decorations, right?! I'm contemplating 2 different looks right now...

Using some of my existing decorations and branching out into the peacock feather theme (I have a ton left over from my wedding)

or...Gold and Silver

Both of them have such a different feel. I can't decide...What do you think??

I will post pics once I'm all done! 

It starts TODAY

15 minutes of Abs
45 minutes of total body strength training

Body of a goddess? Yes, please!  You're probably thinking, what a terrible time to start trying to get fit! You are right...the holidays are probably the worst time of year to try and start working really hard on your body. However, I am very determined! I figure I have about 4-5 months before the winter is gone and before I'll have to start shedding clothing from my every day wardrobe. My goal is to by spring time, be in the best shape I've ever been in! I don't necessarily want to loose weight I just want to shed fat and get toned! Pintrest has provided me with PLENTY of motivation!! I have all the resources I need at my fingertips (gym, healthy food, motivating people)...the only thing holding me back are my excuses (and love for chocolate). Those didn't seem to hold these chicks back...

So many people think that working out will just cancel out the things that you eat...SO NOT TRUE! You can't out-exercise a bad diet...

 What's holding you back??
Motivation is what gets you started, habit is what keeps you going. Think about it...

Usual Sunday Post

What a fantastic weekend! We had such an eventful weekend and it made me so thankful for our wonderful friends! Old and new :)

I started off the weekend by leaving work early to go see....

It was considered a 'work outting' since the audience is our Junior customer. Pretty good reason to get out of the office on a Friday afternoon if you ask me! Had dinner with Charlie and Alex at Cowfish to end the night. Accidentally left 3 20's on the table...guess the waitor had a good night in tips that night! Whoops....

My best friend Alisha and her husband Zac came to visit on Saturday for her birthday! We had a lot of good food, shopped and went out! It was suuch a blast! I haven't gotten to spend some QT with her in a long time-it was well overdue. It was so nice to have my shopping partner back and SO nice to have her opinion when it comes to picking out clothes. I've gotten so accustomed to living with a man 24/7..it was nice to have a girls opinion again!

Also, some of our college girlfriends were in town for the weekend so we got to go out with them! What a great addition to the weekend!

To wrap up the weekend...we went to brunch this morning (of course), came home and cuddled on the couch, watched a super weird movie and took a 2 hour nap. I'm getting ideas from Pintrest on how to decorate for Christmas and planning what we're making for Thanksgiving.

Crossing the Finish Line

Couldn't be more happy with the results from my half-marathon! My body is hurting today, but I'm certainly letting it recover. Here are my results the Thunder Road Half-Marathon

31st place in my age division.
196th girl to finish, overall.
10k time split: 51:29
Chip time: 1:52:21
Pace: 8:35

I stayed to watch my coach finish the full marathon. I have never seen the finish of a marathon before. It was absolutely amazing! I was in awe of all of their accomplishments. Watching them finish made my 13.1 miles seem so insignificant. At first, the half-marathon was just something on my bucket list that I wanted to get checked off. Now that I have checked it off, I feel like I am capable of accomplishing so much more!  I spoke with a guy today that completed the full marathon yesterday. He said he's 'not a runner'. He started training 3 months ago for this marathon and finished yesterday! If he can do it, I can do it right? I don't know...just some thoughts that have gone through my head since yesterday. Running takes such a tole on your body, but how awesome would it be to cross that finish line after 26.2 miles?!

It All Comes Down To This

All the training I've been doing for the past 12 weeks is going to be tested on Saturday. This weekend is the half-marathon that I've been working so hard for! I did a half-marathon a few weeks ago to familiarize my body with the distance (2 half-marathons in 4 weeks...not too shabby!). Since I did that, I know I can do the 13 miles but this Saturday I'm running with a goal in mind. After all the hill training, sprint drills, tempo runs and long distance runs....my body has really endured a lot! I've suffered through aching knees, afflicted hips and distressed feet but it's all been worth it (did I really just say that??). On Saturday I'll be running along with 5,000 other people and I must say that I am so anxious for this race! The route starts uptown and goes through the most charming parts of this city.

The rest of my week will be depleted with prepping for Saturday. I'll be giving my feet some much needed TLC, fueling my body with nutrients, utilizing my foam roller and resting up! I'll be sure to blog with pics from the race!

...With No Plans...

So, this weekend I finally had NO PLANS! It has been amazing. Everything in my life for the past several months have been go, go go. Finally, this weekend was a chill weekend. Got to actually get out and enjoy the Charlotte night life. We went to a fantastic dinner uptown then went out for some drinks and enjoyed some hookah. It was so much fun!! Plus, I got to wear my new black pumps ;)

Saturday was full of so much laziness!! It was AWESOME! Pretty much my only time out of the condo was when we took Dex on a walk to go pick up take out from one of our neighborhood restaurants. He got a new toy giraffe, Raffey. We just sat around in our comfy clothes, ate and watched football all day. It. Was. Bliss.

Steven Furtick had an awesome message this morning. I really needed to hear it. He reminded us that God can appear to you even when you're headed in the wrong direction in life. Also, that God takes things out of your life (people or things), not to deprive you to bless you.

Anywho...after church is my FAVORITE time of the weekend. Sunday BRUNCH! Today we went to a Plaza Midwood neighborhood delicate called Zada Janes. We've been there for dinner before, but have heard great things about their brunch so we decided to give it a try. They had amazing biscuits and apple butter jelly.

Up Early For No Reason

So, it's Saturday morning and I'm up before the sun. Got up around 6am today to go run 12 miles..however, mother nature did not have that in mind for me. It's about 40 degrees outside and raining. Running group got cancelled. Now I can't go back to sleep so I got up to clean, make coffee and wait for my visitors to wake up! I'm caught up watching on the best TV shows EVER made...

Two of my best friends, Sasha and Jenni are visiting me in Charlotte this weekend.

 Today, we're going to 2 wine vineyards in the Yadkin Valley here in North Carolina. I am so excited!

Raffaldini Vineyards

RayLen Vineyards

Make the most of your weekend too!

So Many Things. So Little Time.

It would be impossible to try to catch you up on everything that has been going on for the past few months. Bottom line, it's been BUSY. I haven't had any time to blog and it's one of the main things i've been trying to get around to doing! I'll touch on a few big things that have happened in the past few weeks!

Dexter is getting so BIG! He's turning into the sweetest dog ever! He's finally starting to learn (no bite, sit and come are the best ones he knows so far!). We can already tell he's going to be such a good dog!

My brother-in-law, Van got married a couple weeks ago! There are now 2 of us 'Parker' girl 'outlaws'! Their wedding was beautiful! Russell and I at the wedding...

My little BIG brother-in-law, Andrew got his Citadel ring last weekend! We are so proud of him!

The boys sporting their Citadel ring, and me supporting my miniture Citadel ring that Russell gave me back in '08 when he got his

We ran Race for the Cure to celebrate my friend, Chika's mother as a survivor! Made my best time yet, but missed my goal by 30 seconds!

Ran my first Half-Marathon!

So many exciting things have been going on in my life lately! I am sad that I missed so many opportunities to blog about them each on their own. I will try to stay on top of it, going forward!

1 Year Down

I've been MIA for a looong time. I have had so many things to blog about but I just haven't had ANY time to do it! We have a new addition to our family! We got a puppy and he's just precious. I'll post more about him later.

Meet Dexter

This past weekend was my 1 Year Anniversary with my husband! I can't believe how fast time flys by. We have already been through a lot in our first year of marriage. No telling what will be thrown our way down the road. We went to a wine vineyard on Saturday and ran into a sweet older couple who had just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this year. That is amazing and highly unheard of in society today....I wonder what things will be like 50 years from now..??

My husband did such a wonderful job making our 1 year anniversary so special! Props to him :)

Here's a little re-cap of all  my surprises:

1. He took me to my favorite spa and had a 'Couple's Training Massage' scheduled. It was so fun! We each had time on the table and the massage therapist taught us proper techniques and best way to massage. When we got out of our massage there was champagne waiting for us to enjoy

2. We went up the road a ways and went to a wine vineyard in the Yadkin Valley. It was BEAUTIFUL weather! We got to tour the winery and taste all of the wines that are made there. Perfect way to enjoy the day with lots of wine :)

3. Bling Bling-Diamonds are a girls best friend :) Russell decided it would be a good idea to bling out my wedding ring a little more! I'm not mad at it!

4.  We went to a very nice dinner on Sat night! It was so enjoyable and the food was A-Mazing! Good wine there too.

5. Since I am obsessed with Craftsman style bungalows and our new neighborhood that is full of them, Russell took me on the Elizabeth home tour on Sunday. It was so fun walking around our neighborhood and lusting after all the beautiful bungalows that we got to tour. One day...one day...

6. We took a blanket and Dex to the park and I took a nap :) Dex played and we just enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and the distant sound of a jazz band playing in the park.

7. Finally we settled down, ate the anniversary cake from our wedding day and drank some champagne.

My husband is so thoughtful and I am such a lucky girl..

Puppy Love

Who wouldn't want one of these adorable pups?? We'll be getting an addition to our family very very soon....

Half-Marathon Training Thus Far

Since I've been so far behind on my blogging I haven't had time to give an update on my half-marathon training! I'm about 4 weeks into training and it's going great (so far). I got my VO2 Max test results back and turns out my fitness level is 'Superior'. Wow, wasn't expecting that at all. I am thinking of taking another one after I get through all this training to see how much I have improved. I have a feeling that as I get into my 5th and 6th week of training, I'm going to be very humbled as I get up in my mileage. It's only going to get harder from here. This is my schedule this week:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Labor Day/Rest	3 Miles: EZ  Hill repeats	Cross Training:     Abs/Cardio        Stregth	5 Miles w/ 3     Miles at   Tempo pace	Rest	5 Miles:     Long   Distance       run

I'm trying to get a couple races under by belt before the big race day (November 12). I'm trying to find a 10K that I can run and I'm running the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on Daniel Island on October 15th. It's been really helpful for me to have a group of runners that can hold me accountable and push me every week. If you're training for something, I highly suggest training with someone that is a little better than you! You will definitely benefit from them.

My New 'Hood

So much has happened in the last few weeks! I haven't had ANY time to blog and I've been missing it like crazy! We are suppose to be in our new house right now, unpacking boxes and furniture shopping. However, it seems that life has different plans for us. We are not living in that gorgeous bungalow, but we did find a great place that is BIGGER than our shoebox apartment. We are now in a condo in historic Elizabeth and loving it!

We are only 1 block away from all the great bars and restaurants of Elizabeth. So many things are within walking distance (including a Starbucks) and I'm finding myself quickly loving this side of town! We are so unbelievably disappointed that the house didn't work out for us, but know that there are bigger and BETTER plans for us in the future. We are appreciating the fact that we have a place to live now more than ever :) Soon, we will be getting a new addition to the family and I can't wait to take him on a walk through the park that is right down the street!

More blogs to come, I have a lot to catch up on!

Meet. Repeat.

One thing that I have realized as I am am getting into this half-marathon training is that I can really excel by setting small goals for myself. Small goals are what help us acheive the big ones (that whopping 13.1 miles)!
For instance, I ran a route today thru the city that I couldn't run strongly a few months ago. My goal was to not stop. Regulate my pace, and not stop. It was a small goal, but it felt good to acheive it. Think about that for yourself. Where can you set a small (realistic) goal? The more you do this, the less frustrated and disappointed you will be when you try to acheive those larger goals. Meet the goal. Make another goal and repeat!

Tomorrow morning i'm taking my Vo2 Max test bright and early at 6:00am. I'm anxious about it! I'll post results (if i'm not ashamed of them)

Vo2 Max Test

Next goal: Finish those darn gym sprints in 6 seconds!

This is so true. (and I wish I had a bod like hers!!)

-Off to take a shower, drink some tea and live amongst these boxes...