Remember When

YEAR ONE

Wow. Crazy to believe that Cory and I are moving out of our very first place together today. It's funny how the days go by so slow, sometimes monotonous, but the weeks go by quicker, the months even quicker and a year? When did that even happen?

It's a very bittersweet feeling to be leaving our first place- or as we liked to call it, our "room." -Not quite worthy of the term 'apartment' due to it's immaculate ability to make us feel like we were crammed into a closet and wrapped in cellophane. It wasn't all bad though, Cory and I are very much people, people... meaning, even if we had a 15 bedroom house, chances are, we'd still be sitting right next to each other 98% of the time with Anney snuggled between us.

One of the reasons I love blogging is because I can constantly update my scrapbook of life- people, stories, pictures, websites- things I would never have time or patience to create in real life, are immediately formed in a matter of seconds.

So, in an effort to remember our first year, a few stories to go back to....

Cory and I had our first "post marriage war" one night. God knows what it was about. In an effort to piss me off, Cory grabbed one of my beloved bananas off the counter, squeezed it between his fist and gauged my reaction. In an effort to get back, I grabbed his lunch off the counter (for him to take to work the next day) and threw his newly made pbj at him. The anger war quickly transformed into a full blown food fight that was incredibly hilarious. We still have peanut butter, jelly, and banana remnants around the apartment. We intend to leave a little for the new tenants as a gift from us. I'm sure they'll welcome it with open arms.

I have 2 pets that Cory adopted when we got married. He still calls them "mine" and frequently lets me know they aren't "his" (ahem, like when Anney's gotta go out). Anyway, for his bday, he was bound and determined to get a pet of his own. Insert a 10 gal fish tank- filled complete with 5 fish, 2 snails and a pirate ship- that smelled god awful and was planted right at the kitchen sink, to make cooking a joyous experience. Well, a week later, we had 2 fish left. Want to know how long those dang things lived? They died a month ago.... they musta known mama bear wouldn't be taking the tank with her to the new place...Cory's first pet(s)? Fail. BUT, we're working him up to a dog of his very own.

One night, probably around midnight on a weekday, Cory and I were sound asleep when the door bell rang. No one EVER rings our door bell. I freak out, swearing it's a killer (...that rings a doorbell) and make Cory go see. He looks out the peep hole, runs back to me and says it's a pregnant woman standing at our door.  He sneaks back a few minutes later and she had vanished. I was so creeped out and confused and slept horribly. The next morning, I couldn't find my keys anywhere and I was freaking out, late for work. I open the door to go look in my car for them, and there they are, still in the keyhole on the outside of the door. Turns out? It wasn't a mass murderer or a preggo...it was our friendly neighbor offering some public service.

I like to pretend sometimes that I'm a cook- one of those that can just whip up some delicious homemade food- no recipe needed. I was in the mood for some homemade cookies one night and decided to surprise Cory with a treat when he got off work. So I threw together a conglomeration of ingredients I had on hand, just knowing they would turn out delicious. A smoke-filled, fire alarm ringing apartment later, my concoction was finished. Cory will laugh on the spot at the mention of my "pancake cookies." He said he had to pretend he left something in his truck so he could go outside to bust out laughing, so I wouldn't see. He also told me (months later) that he threw away my creation the entire following week when I packed them in his lunch.

Going waaay back to when we first moved in- it was the Thursday before our wedding. I wanted my engagement ring to sparkle on the Big Day and was in our bathroom cleaning it. Well, the dang cleaner made the ring slippery and just.like.that. it was out of my hands and on the floor. I immediately grabbed it up and noticed something looked...different. Yep, a tiny side-stone, the size of a pencil tip, popped out. I hit the floor- I'm sobbing, screaming for Cory, swearing that we couldn't get married because my ring was ruined (drama queen). After a few minutes of my histericalness, Cory pushed me out of the bathroom so he could get down to business looking (I think I was distracting). I ran outside bawling on the phone to Mom. Cory searched for about 10 minutes- nothing. He sat back on his heels, prayed to God, asking to please let him find the diamond. He put his hand down on the ground, felt something on his finger- and whaddayaknow? God was on our side. The diamond was stuck onto his finger. Hallelujah.


One night, Cory was trying to be a stud (he really just likes the shock factor) by coming out of the bathroom dancing butt naked to see my reaction... my reaction? "Cory, you have a giant red ring around your ass." Apparently, he'd been sitting too long...

I was dead asleep in the middle of the night when Cory jumped out of bed, lifted the blinds up, threw open the window and started yelling at a car in the parking lot to turn off Billy Currington. I had absolutely no Earthly idea what is going on or even heard the slightest of sounds, much less what song and singer. Apparently it was keeping him up.

Me and the hubs were catching some rays when a 40+ year old woman molested a 10 year old boy in the friendly apartment pool. The line- "Get off me you drunk fat B****!" is probably one of the funniest moments of my life.

Cory and I literally went into panic mode one night when we had strong hail and tornado warnings. Looking back, we totally overreacted... we've been watching too much TV. We each grabbed our most prized possession + Anney, said our condolences to Lilly and were out the door. We were certain the 3rd floor of the apt would blow away and we'd be goners. We high-tailed it across town to Mom's, stayed there for a total of 5 minutes, realized the storm was over, and returned home. Poor Lily.

We've had some seriously great times at the "old place" but we're excited to see what the next year has in store for us!

Oh and I can't forget... a sincere goodbye, love-ya-don't-mean-it to "Charlotte," the ridiculously enormous spider that taunted me every single day with her grossness and ginormous webs. Happy to say SEE YAAAAA. Def won't miss you- nothing personal.

Vent

Y'all...I made a smoothie in the bathroom this morning.

Yep. How sick.

Remember when I described our newest sleeping arrangements?

Yeah, the kitchen and our "bedroom" are basically the same place right now. So in order to not wake up the sleeping giant, I was forced to blend away in the bathroom.

I'm so ready for this whole moving thang to be ovaaaa! Painting the new place today! Wahooooo

Oh. And did I mention that I woke up sick this morning? Yeah. Feel terrible. My body has great timing.

:( Vent over.

Movin' on up...

Hey friends! Hope the weekend was great! Mine? Not so relaxing, but fun!

Some high lights...



Typical Friday night, sittin on the kitchen floor, makin out with the dog.

Saturday AM- ran 4.5 with the group, finished with 2.5 solo. Then straight to Twice Is Nice to work til 1...
Then straight to Mt.-Middle-Of-Nowhere-Pleasant, NC for Cory's college friends' wedding.


Oh, hey heat.



Oh, hey outside wedding 



He was freezing.



So pretty!!!



:)

We got home l-a-t-e on Saturday night and woke up Sunday to do this:



We used to sleep here....



Now, we sleep here. Comfy.

Yay for moving week! And happy early bday to my mama! :D

Workouts... I hope.

This week's a little cray cray... here we goooo!

Monday- AM Strength; PM 3 mi run; spin
Tuesday- AM 4 mi run
Wednesday- AM Strength
Thursday- AM 4-5 mi run; PM painting/moving (that counts right?)
Friday- AM Strength; PM moving
Saturday- AM 6mi, all day moving
Sunday- All day- CLEANING (!!)

Let's pray I survive...

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

PSA:

Do not, I repeat, do NOT buy Lloyd's BBQ.

My man friend was craving BBQ last week, so trying to be sweet, and since I don't know how to actually make BBQ, I bought the prepared, refrigerated kind at the store this weekend. The stats weren't bad and had ingredients I could read, so I though it wouldn't hurt to try it.

It would have been great......if I was a cat.

Cory and I took one bite, looked at each other, took one more repulsive bite (trying not to offend the other; him because I'd "made it"; me because he'd requested it) and both of us said in unison "ohemgee, I can't eat this!"

The best cure for a dinner-gone-bad? Fro-Yo, please! :)

Maybe I should sabotage dinner more often. muahaha

Marathons battle it out...

I have a huge dilemma.
HUGE.

Okay, I'm dramatic.

But, I need help. See, there are 2 marathons I could run in the fall (did I mention training starts July 30?! eep!!!) And I can't decide which to do!

So, being the OCD psycho I am, I made a list....

SAVANNAH ROCK 'N' ROLL MARATHON

Nov. 5th

vs.

THUNDER ROAD MARATHON

Nov. 12th

Savannah Pros
1. FLAT (162' elevation)

2. BIG race, crowd support, bands every mile

3. Good excuse for vacation

4. Beautiful scenery

5. Shae is running the half!

Thunder Road Pros

1. Close to home

2. Majority of running team is running- moral support!

3. No hotel or traveling (can get ready at home)

4. Family can come watch the race

5. Cheaper race registration

Savannah Cons

 1. Out of town; unfamiliar sleeping arrangements= added stress/less sleep

2. Won't know many people running the full

3. Cost of hotel/travel

4. No family support

5. More expensive race registration

Thunder Road Cons

1. HILLY! (1168' elevation) !!!

2. Not as big of a race/less crowd support

3. Less interesting scenery

4. HILLS

5. HILLS

6. HILLS

(I think you get my dilemma)

Help! :(

PS- My mantra

Weekend Royalty

Heyyy everyone! I had a wonderful weekend and hope you did as well! :)

My mom has been out of town, keeping her brother's kids in Wilmington, NC so I've been dogsitting her babies while she's been gone. Of course, her babies are my baby's sister and mama, so naturally they need excessive love and attention!

They seemed to be a little love deprived this week and hadn't eaten much, so Cory and I decided to have a sleep over at mom's to keep them company. They were beyond ecstatic, leading to no sleep for me and the hubs! :(

Unfortunately, that resulted in a slight delirious AM run....




Me and runnin buddy taken by another group member


I must have been sleep running when I hit a crack in the sidewalk and busted it on the busiest road in Fort Mill. I'm sure I'm on YouTube somewhere... I hit the ground and rolled into the grass...I imagine it was quite entertaining. With skinned up legs and hands, the last 2 miles of the run were so awesome and painless.


Road Rash is hott. You didn't know?

After cleaning up my battle wounds, I did something that was so far beyond over due... went shopping! Got a few new things, some shorts (!!) since summer's almost over now and I haven't had a single pair unless you count sweet running shorts. Also a few cute dresses and accessories. yessssss
I got our weekly grocery shopping/cleaning done since me and the hubs had some pretty sweet plans for the rest of the weekend, which is foreign to us. Plans I mean (cleaning sometimes, too).

Then napped until around 5 when I got my clean on...

Shopping? Showering??? You know that's outta the norm! Where were we going, you ask? Cory and I planned our First Wedding Anniversary celebration dinner for Saturday night! We were in for quite a treat! :)




Bam!

 Oooooh yes, we did.

And we tried our very, very best to not seem like tourists while we were there... but that's a feat a little too tough for us.

They seated us in this aaaaamazing table beside the lobster tank (honestly, it was prob the best seat they had in the place) We think it was compensation for losing our reservations (we had them, I swear). Naturally I had to prove to the hostess that we had them by whipping out the iPhone to show her the email confirmation. Classy.




Lobster staring at me. Poor guy.

 All plans of acting like we knew what we were doing went out the door when Cory yelled out:

"Oh sweet, look at those CRABS!"

fail.

Dinner was out of this world good. If anyone needs a place to go to get treated like royalty and eat food that you don't want to ever end, go. there.



Sweet bar...grabbin a drank while we waited

I swear I'm not drunk

Well heyy there good lookin

King Cory

  

And the chinese Queen

 Dinner started with amazing bread that we were afraid to cut
"No sudden movements. Don't. Break. Anything."

And then salads mmmm.



Mine-
Oven-roasted double chicken breast stuffed with garlic herb cheese and served with lemon butter




Plus creamed spinach.



Cory's-
The most tender cut of corn-fed Midwestern beef topped with crispy onions and served sizzling
They forgot his "crispy onions"...the nerve.

Plus garlic mashed potatoes

Finished off with a dessert trio (no pic, sorry!) Which included Raspberry Sorbet, Chocolate Sin Cake, and Traditional Cheese Cake. They were each TO DIE for.


Sunday morning, we woke up, went to breakfast and then headed for Crowder's Mountain for the day.



Happy ONE YEAR!

 Crowder's Mountain is so beautiful and peaceful. It was the perfect place for us to talk and spend all day together. And we couldn't have asked for better weather! Naturally, we chose the "strenuous" trail to climb, and it was a work out! Had us both sweatin at the top!!

After hiking to the top and back, we ate our little romantic picnic pb&j's and then headed back for a real treat....



Anyone for some year-old wedding cake?



Cutting our cake

Y'all. This cake was the bomb. Even a year later. It was awesome! Wish we had more
... someone wanna get married? Please.

In all seriousness, this has been the best year of my life and I completely owe that to my wonderful husband. We've roughed it this past year and through all the marriage, job, home and life adjustments, Cory has done nothing but support me 110%. He's everything I could ever ask for in a husband and I can't wait to see what year 2 has in store for us. I love you Cory!





Work it out

Monday- AM strength training; PM 3mile run, spin
Tuesday- 5mile interval run: 800m fast, 800m regular pace x5
Wednesday- AM strength training; PM Boot camp
Thursday- 4m tempo run
Friday- AM strength training
Saturday- 6-8mile run

Quote of the Week:

"There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you only do it when it's convenient. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses; only results."

Bad to the Bone

This weekend began like any other- got off work, went home, asked my hot man what we were gonna do, sat around, pondered over why we still live in Rock Hill, wondered more about what we could go and do… and then met the in-laws at El Cancun for dinner (yes, 2 nights in a row, don’t judge).
This wasn’t just any ole dinner though- it was Reagan’s very first El Cancun experience. As excited as we all were, she must have been absolutely bored with the place and slept through the entire dinner.

Apparently, loud obnoxious drunk rednecks chugging down fish-bowl sized margaritas aren’t her thing.
She’ll convert.

Even though I drank absolutely no alcohol Friday night, I woke up Saturday feeling stiff and tired and dragging. The 6-miler was gruesome…and the 100% humidity didn’t help the sitch.
I kept getting really light headed and was so thirsty…I need to do better about hydrating the day before/during the run.

I got this Nathan hydration belt:

and used it the whole time at the beach, but haven’t on a group run yet. I just hate having so much stuff on…the 305 is clunky enough and I hate feeling restricted. Even so, I woulda killed for it Saturday….a gas station bathroom sink woulda worked too.

I was scheduled for my first placement at the Junior Welfare League’s consignment shop, Twice Is Nice, on Saturday. As a new member, I have to volunteer for 13 3-hour sessions during the year. Knowing I had to be there, dressed, and non sweaty at 10am, I raced home to get ready right after the run. I got ready in record time and arrived right on the dot; worked from 10 to 11 and then realized that there is no way on Earth someone should
have given me a college degree or a driver’s license. I didn’t have to be there til 1.

Wahhhh. Nothing makes me madder than making retarded mistakes that impact my whole day. See… me and Cory scheduled our lease signing for 2pm that day… but since I only have ½ a brain and can’t read a schedule, we had to cancel. L Hoping for next weekend.

After finishing at Twice Is Nice around 4:15, Cory and I headed out to get some errands done. One thing that both of us love is getting Anney new “babies.”
The look on her face when she gets a treat is hysterical and so worth it.

We name all her toys and have basically taught her the names….so when we tell her to get her favorite, “Turk” she runs and gets her mangled, chewed up, one-eyed Turkey baby that used to be really cute.

Saturday we introduced her to “Moo Cow” and also brought her a rawhide bone.

She loves Moo Cow, but the bone really stole the show; she didn’t put it down all night, apparently the bone didn’t love her back. Around midnight, she came around to my side of the bed and woke me up- which typically happens 12+ times a night (She's afraid to jump on the bed in the dark) but when I went to pick her up, something was obviously wrong.

She was gasping and looked horrified- a piece of the bone was lodged in her throat! I started screaming for Cory and since he’s nocturnal and still awake at that crazy hour, he came in and saved the day! Lucky he knows the Heimlich for dogs. :( Anney is fine now, but it was hard to get back to sleep!

No more bones for her!

Sunday, went by way too fast. We spent a few hours at Chad and Page's, hanging out with them and Reagan, grocery shopped, etc. and before we knew it, it was time to start a new week! :( Booo

This coming Sunday is mine and Cory's One Year Anniversary! So exciting, and crazy to think what I was doing this time last year! Time FLIES!!!! (when you're havin fun!)



2 days late and $.50 short

Happy Belated Birthday America!!!

...just a few days late, I've been busy (lazy). Please forgive me.

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! I had a very low key weekend, which was really nice after all the traveling and excitement lately.

Friday night was seriously chill (read: boring)- Cory had some car trouble Friday morning and borrowed mine, so he came and picked me up from work and then we ran a few errands, headed to Mom's for a quick dinner, then came home and just hung out. (I think. That was too many days ago...obviously it was something ground breaking.)

Saturday morning, I met my regular running friends for a hot and humid and sweaty 6 miles. We started at 7am but the dang sun was already blazing! I hate to think what August is going to look like... 5am runs?

 I think not!

After I gave my skin a real nice salt treatment, Cory and I went and ran all over town (no, not on foot). I had a few birthday gift cards to cash in, and started looking at decorating projects/ideas for our new home! I can't believe how soon we're moving!! :) I'm soo excited! No, not about carrying our 2 sofas, recliner, washer and dryer, bedroom furniture, and TV down 3 flights of stairs.... but what else are men good for?! ;) I kid I kid... (sorta).

No complaining. Could be worse.

Saturday night, Cory and I went to dinner with his parents at one of our favorite places- El Cancun! We used to have a Thursday night tradition and went every week, but things have gotten ca-razy through the summer. I got my typical boring, naked, grilled chicken fajita salad- dang that thang's good!

After dinner, I got a really terrible migraine and (seriously) went to sleep at 7pm...and slept til 7am. Woops! I think either the sun drained me or I was dehydrated. I felt so bad for Cory, but I guess he managed to find something to do without me. This one time (last week) Cory took a "nap" from 5pm to around 9pm. When he woke up (oh wait, that's right... someone accidentally pushed his arm down so it would hit the coffee table and wake him up... accidentally) I whined about how he'd "left me" all night. He still laughs about that...says I'm a five year old that can't get left alone without some type of entertainment, like jugglers and clowns.

Sunday morning, I got up in the mood to work out, even though it was my planned rest day (weird, I know). So, I headed over to our apartment gym for about 50 mins on the elliptical, split up in increments of 10 minutes. Every 10 mins, I would stop and do 1 minute of burpees- made the workout go by incredibly fast! Plus, my dang feet always fall asleep on the elliptical. Does that happen to anyone else?!

After working out, me and Cory watched the closing statements for the Casey Anthony trial that we've been following for awhile now. And BTW, I'm not even going to go there because I'm literally sick over the verdict. I guess it's ok to kill someone but not okay to lie.

Sweet.

Glad all the murderers out there now know all they have to do is just hide their victims long enough so they decompose and get a really good lying lawyer.

Okay...vent over.

Sunday afternoon, my mom and I went shopping hunting for dishes for our new place, which was going to be her bday present to me. I had seen some online that I wanted, and of course they were no where to be seen in stores. I believe we covered and recovered every home store in 18 zip codes.

The only think I bought?

Half off K-cups from Belk. Sweet deal.

On the way home, I just freaking ordered them online- what I should have done in the first place.

Wanna see em? :)

They come in today!! Seriously, Macy's in on the ball.

After shopping, we headed to my in-laws for a 4th cookout. They know me too well and already had the veggie burgers sittin out! :) That seriously doesn't mean I ate healthy, though.

The amount of chips and white bean dip alone were probably enough for 14 people to live on for 32 days. Plus the cookie cake and ice cream...ohhh cookie cake. You complete me.

Oh, and wine? Yeah, sure, I'll take a bottle.

Chug that wine, Leebs!

Cory and his dad did a fantastic job entertaining us with their fireworks and karaoke. Who needs jugglers and clowns when we got these two?



Dear Lord.......yes he's trying to strike a match using his teeth.





After I tranquilized him.



Monday, since I had the day off, I met a friend to run what we thought was a 4.5 mile loop. Nottttt quite. 4.5 turned into 6.2 miles. Oh well, 10K done before 8:30am --not complaining. It was even hotter than Saturday- in order to prevent death by heat stroke, we stopped at a questionable gas station and drank water from the bathroom sink (not kidding).

After the run, I figured I hadn't quite had enough of the sun for one weekend and went to lay by the pool in Mom's neighborhood. Did I mention her pool has a deep end?

It goes all the way to 1 1/2 feet.

After attempting to get a sun burn (what's SPF?) I headed home, met Cory, then went to Chad and Page's so Cory could help him finish a project they'd been working on in the yard. Naturally, I stayed inside and caught up on Tetris (thanks for introducing that me to me Chad, you're a lifesaver).

Due to a crazy rain storm, they're project came to a quick halt and we headed over to Cory's parents to eat cookout leftovers (more bean dip and cookies? don't mind if I do).

And that, my friends, concluded the weekend. I'm most likely talking (typing) to myself at this point in the novel, but that's ok. This week hasn't had anything exciting happen...yet. I'll keep ya posted.

A cure for Runner's Block

Got Runner's Block? I've got a remedy.

While I was at the beach, I decided I was definitely in some desperate need of new running shoes. I've had my Asics since around Feb. and after 2 half marathons and all the training involved, those things had had it! On the way home from the beach, Cory insisted (yes, I do love my husband very very much) that we stop at TrySports on the way home to get me some new shoes. I have gotten every single pair of running shoes from them and will probably never go anywhere else. They give you personal attention and genuinely care about fitting you correctly for your needs/wants. Like many typical running stores, they video tape you running on a tredmill and then slow down the video frame by frame to accurately measure your gate.

I slightly over-pronate and need a shoe with some stability- neutral shoe just doesn't have enough support for me. The wonderful staff asked me questions about what I liked/didn't like about my last pair, preferences for the new pair, etc. I mentioned that I constantly had problems with my right foot burning or falling asleep during long runs and they said it was most likely due to lack of circulation. The best remedy for this was going up a 1/2 size. When she brought me several pairs to try, they felt pretty big and I wasn't quite sure about the 1/2 size up. But, she assured me that while running, your feet tend to swell and told me to go outside and take a few laps around the building.

I ended up with the Mizuno Wave Inspire 7's. Holy Heaven. These things don't even need breaking in. First run in them was Monday's 3-miler. Immediate knee/shin pain relief..and no burning! What a genius. 

If you ever need a motivator to run... go buy some new shoes. It will seriously get you pumped. Like, make you sign up for 5 races and run in 98 degree 100% humidity weather.

Happy Friday!!!