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.