August 14, 2015 by Stephanie

Book Review-Leaving Time

Stop what you are doing and get this book.

I LOVED this book. I am a huge Jodi Picoult fan, and if you weren’t aware I am obsessed with elephants. So this was meant to be a good book for me.

Picoult told this story from four different points of view: Jenna, Serenity, Virgil, and Alice. Alice is Jenna’s mother. She went missing when Jenna was three, so Jenna has been searching for clues for the past 10 years to find her. Now thirteen, she enlists the help of Serenity, a psychic, and Virgil, a PI. When you are reading Alice’s perspective you actually go back in time before the disappearance to give you some context.

I thought the way she laid out the book was brilliant. I was never confused on who was talking since each chapter was a different character. I also felt having the four different perspectives showed you different sides of the same story which brought depth to the plot line.

I am not going to tell you more to the story because I don’t want to give anything away. I want you to experience all the emotions I did with every twist and surprise.

This is honestly one of the best books I have read in a long time. Seriously it is possibly now in my top five all time favorite books is how much I loved it.

Not only is it a story about human emotions and how intertwined and messy but beautiful they can be, it also talks A LOT about elephants. I would call myself a novice expert (if that is a thing) on elephants. Every research paper in elementary school up to high school I did on elephants. I had all kinds of elephant encyclopedias/magazines growing up, and give me all the elephant figurines at the dollar store please. One of my dreams growing up was to work with elephants at a zoo or sanctuary. How I found this book was because I was setting up my yearly donation to the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. (Click here if you want more information on that or to read about the lady elephants there.) Anyway, so I know when a writer is speaking the truth on elephants.

She wrote so beautifully on the emotional capacity of these wonderful animals, and the way it fit into the story was just great. I thought the flashbacks from Alice were a nice touch, and I honestly didn’t see the story unfolding as it did. And I am usually pretty good at predicting things. Total surprise with each chapter.

So I am sure that was the vaguest book review ever, but honestly you need to read this without me giving away any spoilers.
As a caveat though, from the reviews on Goodreads, it seems that this book is either hit or miss with people. Either you love it like I do, or people thought it was too much to keep up with and didn’t carry well between characters. I will let you decide. I think though if you are a fan of Jodi or of elephants, you will like the book.

Have you read Leaving Time? What is your favorite Jodi Picoult book?

August 13, 2015 by Stephanie

Ready or Not

This time last year I was put on bedrest in preparation for George’s arrival.

Now in two weeks, George will no longer be a baby.

What the heck? How is he a year old?

While I am trying not to get emotional about the fact that this year just flew by, there are moments where I am just overcome with tears of sadness, joy, fear…all of it.

But the joy is getting to celebrate this cutie: the life he has lived so far and what is yet to come for him.

And I think that is what birthdays are all about.

I am one of those people that started planning his party once he was born. (And yes I already have his 2nd birthday planned in my head.) It’s just the creative planner in me that I just gets so excited about ideas! Judge me if you will. I will be over here enjoying the hotdogs at my kid’s birthday.

Luckily my sister-in-law is a party planner, and we jumped on the party planning bus together. She is helping bring life to some of the ideas. We have had a lot of fun coming up with things for his…(ready for it)

Baseball Themed Party!

I am sure there are no surprises there.

Birthdays are a big deal for me, and I want my kids to feel special and surrounded by the people they love on their day.

So we are starting this first one off with a bang.

Really, it is going to seem a little ridiculous to everyone but us what we have in store for this birthday. What can I say, his Auntie Em loves him very much, and it is a bonus that she is pretty much a walking Pinterest board. Also, I just want to do all the ideas.

We are making a lot of the things for the party, or I found things on super sale throughout the year so honestly the cost has been pretty low considering all that we have planned. The nice thing about having a party theme picked early is that I can watch for good deals and not have to spend so much the last minute. We are keeping in mind that there are a lot of other littles coming to the party that need things to do besides watching George Hulk Smash that cake. Our family LOVES to get together, so we want this to be a fun afternoon for everyone. And many of the decorations will be used in his room later on as well. Double usage-I am in.

Plus I need things to take pictures of, and a big birthday seems to fit that bill.

I can’t wait to share everything with you all. It should be a good time.

The first thing I will share with you are the invitations I made. I searched for months for the perfect layout for his invitation. I knew what I wanted, but I could not find anything that was cheap. It was ridiculous what people would pay for invitations.

So I just gave up and made them myself in Publisher. ALL the invitations and envelopes cost me a whopping $5 at Walmart. Deal.

I am pretty happy with the way that it turned out for having no design skills whatsoever.

I am so excited to watch George become his own little self, and I cannot believe that he is almost one. I am going to be that mom that makes birthdays an extravaganza. It can be that one day of the year that he is truly spoiled beyond what he could ever imagine. We only live through this life once, why not have lots of cake?

Fun fact, Tom’s family has this field named in their honor in his hometown. So we took all these pictures there. I thought it was a cute personal touch for our family. The only problem was that it was awkwardly high, and George just wanted to eat the ball instead of look at me. He also had so much fun playing in the dirt and would not stay still for most of the shots I wanted on the diamond, but we made it work. And I saw that my future will be full of baths to clean up a mud-caked George.

Do you go all out for birthdays? Do you like themed parties? Would you like to make a bet on how George will react to cake?

August 12, 2015 by Stephanie

Fit for Me 32/52

What I did last week:

Thursday-32 minute training run. I ran during the workday, and I found the key to coming back to work without dying of heat is wearing a skirt. Apparently my legs needed to breathe. Also 2nd day hair.

Saturday-I did a race in town around a local lake. It was not a run; it was a hike. I ran what I could, but I walked a lot more than I planned since the terrain was a lot more treacherous than I remember from our excursions there before. There were small slat bridges, creek beds you had to run straight down then straight back up, and rocks jutting up everywhere. So instead of risking a sprained ankle, I walked a lot to get through it.

Tuesday-36 minute training run. This was was a huge struggle. I was having such a hard time meeting each of my time splits. As I was doing the cool-down, I realized that the incline was set on a 2 instead of the .5 I normally do. No wonder I was having trouble.

Impressed by:

I kept going through that trail run. There were parts where I wondered why I sign up for these things, but it is always great to cross the finish line.

Struggled with:

I need to do some other workouts besides running. I am starting to get in a rut with running, which always happens mid-training for me. So I need something to jazz it up for a a little bit.

Did I meet my goal from last week?

I did not meet my goal of running one of the trail miles at a 10 minute pace. It just wasn’t worth it on that path.

What is my goal for next week?

To do one workout that is not running.

Fitness Thoughts:

I never look good in the running photos…How do people do it? I always come out looking like I am going to puke or that I am taking it much more serious than I actually am. I mean look at the kid before me-having the time of his life in his little bandana.

Are you race photogenic? How do you do it?

August 9, 2015 by Stephanie

35 Before 35 Update

Another month has come and gone.

1. Crochet something else besides blankets or scarves at least once a year (~~2013~~, ~~2014~~, ~~2015~~, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)

2. Do a photography challenge

This time next month, I will have completed my year challenge! Here are some that I haven’t shared somewhere on the blog yet.

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3. ~~Visit 5 cities I have never been to before~~ (7/5)

4. ~~Tour at least one a winery, brewery, or distillery~~

5. Send at least 5 snail mail a month

6. ~~Become a “professional” photographer~~

7. Run at least 10 races (any distance) (4/10)

I did Kicks in the Sticks this weekend. It was a 3.5 trail run. It was definitely all trail and not much run.

8. Go camping with Tom

9. ~~Pay for the car behind me in a drive through~~

10. See Tyrone Wells live as many times as possible

11. ~~Tour Fort Defiance here in Clarksville~~

12. Water ski with my dad

13. Do a 5K with my mom

14. Take a swing dance class with Tom

15. Read at least one fun book a month and one professional development book every three months

16. Take a pottery or stained glass class

17. Do one new recipe each month

I made Zucchini Blueberry Bread. I received so many compliments for this bread. Compliments like, “This is better than my grandma’s.” Pat myself on the back.
I tried a one pot recipe. It was super easy and quick. AND MADE SO MUCH. Go try this recipe now. Tom’s only recommendation is more sausage.
We made this casserole this weekend while my mom visited. It was pretty tasty, but I would recommend more cheese.

18. See both a Clemson and UCM football game live

19. ~~Find a place to volunteer on a regular basis~~

20. Go hiking

That trail run was pretty much hiking.

21. Ride in a hot air balloon

22. ~~Go to at least 20 “new to me” restaurants.~~ (27/20)

International Cafe-small greek cafe here in town that has great gyros!
Ingredient-restaurant downtown with great burgers (my mouth is watering thinking about that bleu cheese burger I had), but it seemed a little over-priced for what they were offering.

23. ~~Stay at a bed and breakfast~~

24. Spend a day without electronics (phone, t.v. and computer)

25. Do something unique and new for my birthdays

26. ~~Explore Nashville while we live here~~

27. Watch at least 10 movies that I have not seen before that won Best Picture at the Oscars and at least 20 documentaries (not necessarily Oscar winning) Movies (2/10); Documentaries (7/20)

28. Sew an item of clothing from scratch

29. Do a personal devotional/bible study on my own

30. Be a mascot for an event

31. Go on our honeymoon (preferably somewhere tropical)

32. Host an annual NCAA Basketball Tournament Championship game party

33. Go on a mission trip

34. Be on a recreation volleyball team

35. ~~Become a mom~~

George started walking this last month! Big milestone!

I would say I didn’t do too bad this month considering we were moving practically the whole month. Here’s to another month of living!

August 5, 2015 by Stephanie

Fit for Me 31/52

What I did last week:

Thursday-40 minute training run

Saturday-BodyPump for an hour. I only had to take a break during the chest track.

Sunday-This was the longest run I have done in a long time: 52 minutes. And unfortunately, I chose the wrong way on the Katy Trail to run-the way without shade. Bummer. But I still rocked it out, and I felt really good about it.

Monday-It was zoo day. We were at the zoo for about 5 hours, which means a lot of walking.

Tuesday-30 minute training run. I will admit, I did more walking than running. Midway through I stopped following my plan. I was pushing the stroller in a new park that was unreasonably hilly. So I decided to just walk the last 10 minutes.

Impressed by:

Killing that run on Sunday. I am really liking doing this time ratio for my runs because it is a lot easier for me to say just run for 2 more minutes or whatnot instead of thinking I have a quarter mile left.

Struggled with:

My niece asked me this week if I was having another baby. And when I told her no, she pointed to my belly and asked why it looked so big. It took all I had not to have some reaction to her and keep my composure while trying to explain what was going on with my belly. I cried all the way home. I have been working my tail off (at least I feel like it) and to have a kid say that so point blank was a little horrifying. I talked to my other half (not Tom-great friend from college “other half”), and she has three kids and commiserated with me that she has heard this as well from her older boys. While it still sucks, at least I know I am in good company with the apparent momma pouch.

Did I meet my goal from last week?

I did not hit all my runs like I wanted, but here is to another week.

What is my goal for next week?

i want to do more ab workouts, just kidding. I wallowed for one night, I don’t need to focus on a 5 year old’s comments anymore. I am running a trail race this weekend, and I would like to run at least one of the miles at a 10 minute pace. I am not familiar with the trail so an 11 minute mile may be more likely.

Fitness Thoughts:

Fitness is just as much of a mental game as it is physical.

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