Photos in the Park for Holden's Heart

Y'all know my best friend. The one who quotes Friends with me and supports my love of tacky home decor--well, she's a photographer. And a freaking awesome one at that (as evidenced above).

ANYWAYS.

She has an amazing heart, and she is doing a fundraiser for the family of a little boy who has spent most of his first year of life in the hospital--you can read his story here (oh, and, bring tissues).

Since little Holden has spent most of his young life in the hospital, his parents, Lindsey and Trent haven't needed much, since, it's all been provided by the hospital--but, now that he's home (yay!), they need stuff. Diapers, wipes, clothes and such--oh and the bills--the medical bills for days!

So, Ren is doing photo shoots this Saturday, April 2 in The Woodlands, TX to raise money for them (I told you she was awesome).

For a $50 donation (check or cash) you will get a 30 minute session with her along with three (3) 5x7 photos and all the photos will be shared on facebook. Bring your friends, family, dogs--anything! You can check out her AMAZING work on her blog here.

So, if you, or any of your friends will be in the area near The Woodlands, Texas this weekend, please consider making a pit stop and getting some fabulous photos taken for a super worthy cause.

Contact Ren if you're interested: ren_morrison AT mac DOT com

Or, if you can't make it, but, would like to make a donation, I'm sure we can work that out for you.

Please, spread the word, and Help Holden's Heart!

It's Official: The Mayans Were Right, The World Is Ending (or something slightly less dramatic)

So, yesterday I logged onto facebook to write a congratulatory message on my niece's wall (isn't that what the cool, fun aunts do?)--in case you didn't know, my niece has been accepted into The Rockette's Intensive Summer Program. That's right, my little goob is going to be high kicking it in NYC this summer--and I couldn't be more proud.

Anyways. Facebook. Y'all, that is how I discovered that my little niece has a boyfriend!

Anrelnre&8nfjsd!*0^dhlasdjs#urenemu%ndfud!

The world is ending.

Can't deal. Can't deal.

Of course, I did some light stalking (because that's what any crazy aunt would do) and he seems like a nice kid and all, but, just, no. She's the little eight year old that had to sit in the middle seat in the back of my car. And we'd share a Diet Coke and apple cobbler. She's not old enough to date--there must be some sort of mistake. (side note: she's actually 16. I don't want to talk about it)

This? Is probably why I don't have children yet. I would be the most crazy overprotective parent on earth.

My niece is probably going to block me on facebook now. Smart girl.

Some Stuff

1. It was a busy weekend around these parts, I had to work late on Friday and I worked all day Saturday. Of course, because I work crazy hours, I AM IN FACT STILL SICK.

2. Sorry, I didn't mean to get shouty, I'm just over.it.

3. My dad came into town, so, it was fun to catch up and spend time with him--although, I felt bad that I worked all day Saturday.

4. I ran into this sweet girl on Saturday, so, that was fun!

5. Do y'all watch Army Wives? Did y'all watch it last night? Holy moly, I'm pretty sure I cried during the entire episode. No joke.

6. The husband is really enjoying his job! Yay!

7. My bestie got a new puppy yesterday and it's taking everything I have not to purchase a ticket to St. Louis to go snuggle lil miss Sage. And Mally of course, we can't forget Mally.

8. No new episode of House this week. Sad face.

9. I ordered a bunch of stuff from Ballard Designs last week and cannot wait until it gets here. I'll be that much closer to my finished home decor projects!

10. I'm so ready for a long weekend, but, won't have one until....Memorial Day? Boo. What's new with y'all?

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

It's been a busy week around Casa de SP. Between trying to get the dogs up and fed before work, to recovering from a weekend on the road--it's been a might bit crazy. Oh, and I'm fairly certain that my body is rebelling and I'm getting sick. AGAIN. No worries, I have some leftover meds, so, I've been popping them like candy.

ANYWAYS.

I don't know if y'all watch Chuck, but, you should. The only issue is that it's on at the same time as House. I love it. It's one of my favorite shows. It's funny, it's sweet, it's good. And, I mean, Zachary Levi is precious!

This is a clip from Monday night's show. I cannot stop watching it. It's the highlight of my week. Well, not true, spending tomorrow judging people with my bestie is the highlight of my week, but, still, this is flippin' hilarious.

(back story: the pig is named Kevin Bacon and is the mascot for a rival electronics store)

Also, if I ever have a pet pig, I'm naming him Kevin Bacon and forcing him to wear a cape.

Happy Thursday!

Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me

This was the scene at mi casa this AM:
Don't they just look so pitiful?

Those two were pissed at having to get up early with me and you know, eat breakfast, go outside, and generally not be in the confines of their warm and cozy bed.

Which brings me to this: Welcome to being a grown up, kids. It sucks.

The joke is on me however as I left them in my rush to work and didn't give them a treat for being such good puppies. They will have probably destroyed the sofa by the time I get home.

Awesome.

Week Two of Mommy and Daddy working--let's see how this plays out....

What I Do Best

One of my very bestest friends is in the hospital right now, and of course she's all "don't freak out" and I'm all "Are you effing kidding me? You're in the hospital you ninny!". So of course, I did freak out and then I remembered that I'm like a thousand miles away and really can't do anything about it.

Instead, I thought I'd cheer her up by sending her some pictures of our favorite doctor. I may not be able to hold her hand or fix what's wrong, but, I can send Dr. Chase her way.

Last night, I texted her this picture, with the caption "Feel better, love".

I didn't know any Aussie things to say. Anyone? Bueller?

If she's not better by tomorrow, she should expect this one to be sent as well. I mean, goodness.

I mean, wouldn't that help you feel better? Personally, I'm fighting a cold and or allergies, and I gotta tell ya, a few episodes of House (or we could sub Bones in here, but, since we're going with the whole Australian accents cure all, we'll stick with House) will knock it right out of me. Ha!

See also: We may run off to Australia when she's all better. True story. Sorry, husbands. (kidding) (kind of) (no, really, I am kidding) (I AM!)

(pictures from here and here)

Today is The Day

The alarms (plural!) went off this morning. We were up and at it (note: I was supposed to be up and at it a good 1.5 hours earlier to run--I am nothing if not consistent in my need for sleep). The dogs were not thrilled.

Ella Mae was giving me her signature "You're kidding, right?" side eye. I can't blame her. Two years of sleeping in will do that to you.
Still, I somehow made it out the door on time--clean clothes and all.


Of course, I forgot my lunch and thus paid for mine with change--I'm sure the chick at Corner Bakery won't be happy to see me return--ever, but, that's her issue.

But, empty coin purse and sleepy dogs aside, it's a good day. It's the husband's first day of work in a long, long time.


We're thrilled.

Now, if only I could find someone to pay me to sit at home with the dogs and watch Friends, Bones and House, then, we'd really be onto something!

And ALSO: Tomorrow is my sissy in law, Rebecca's birthday! Becca, I love you so much, you're the best sissy ever, I'm so lucky to have you in my life, even if I refuse to believe that we're getting older. Love you times a million! And miss you too! Come visit! xoxox

All is Well

Come, come, ye saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
Tis better far for us to strive
Our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell -
All is well! All is well!

Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
'Tis not so; all is right.
Why should we think to earn a great reward
If we now shun the fight?
Gird up your loins; fresh courage take.
Our God will never us forsake;
And soon we'll have this tale to tell-
All is well! All is well!

We'll find the place which God for us prepared,
Far away, in the West ,
Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid;
There the saints, will be blessed.
We'll make the air, with music ring,
Shout praises to our God and King;
Above the rest these words we'll tell -
All is well! All is well!

And should we die before our journey's through,
Happy day! All is well!
We then are free from toil and sorrow, too;
With the just we shall dwell!
But if our lives are spared again
To see the Saints their rest obtain,
Oh, how we'll make this chorus swell-
All is well! All is well!

That has always been one of my favorite hymns and the I always get teary when it's sung in church. We didn't sing it yesterday, but while I was not paying attention in Sunday school (shocking, I know), I was flipping through the hymn book and took a few moments to really read the lyrics.

Then the tears started.

If you've been following my blog for a while, you know that the last two years have been really hard on my family. We've had struggles that we never expected and yet somehow we've survived. This hymn really encompasses my feelings--things were hard--but, they could have been worse.

But now, a new chapter is opened: my husband starts his new job tomorrow. This has been a long time coming.

All is Well.

(ps. If you want to see the beautiful version that makes me cry like a little girl, click here)

Updates. Because that's all I've got.

Yes, I am a bad blogger--sorry! I blame work. I mean, I gotta blame someone, this can't possibly be my fault. Or can it? Hm. Something to ponder.

1. I took off a week after Cowtown, which was dumb, and now I'm faced with 18 miles on Saturday. HA! That is a funny, funny story. My hip begs to differ, as does the fact that I'm hosting a baby shower at my house, sooooo, I'll be cutting the run short so I can zip home and make myself pretty before the guests arrive. See also: Why do I do the things I do? It's a mystery folks.

2. Last year, I was getting ready to run the Catalina Marathon. I'm more than a bit pissy that I'm not doing that this weekend. It was so.much.FUN!

3. I'm also more than a bit pissy that I might have to work an event in New Jersey instead of you know, watch the royal wedding and such and also miss out on running the Oklahoma City Marathon. Priorities people, priorities.

4. I shouldn't be so bitter and pissy. Our receptionist bought us caffeine free Diet Coke. Obviously, there's a correlation.

5. My home decor projects are coming together! Hopefully they'll be finished by the time this girl comes to visit me in April. Otherwise, I apologize in advance and I'll pay for your room at the Hilton.

6. It's a really nice day here today. I should be eating chips and queso on a restaurant patio or something. I'm not, obviously.

7. I haven't cooked an actual meal in like a week. Again, I blame work.

8. I had lunch with this sweet mama to be yesterday. It took everything I had not to slap her for being so dang cute. I have no babies and am going gray. She on the other hand, is pregnant and looks younger. I'm gonna need to know her secret....

9. I fully intend an Anthro shopping spree this weekend. I have a sore throat, that will help right? Like vitamin C for the soul?

10. My niece has gone to like 500 doctors in the past month--poor girl, they can't figure out what's wrong with her. My sister is about to lose her mind. I wish I lived closer!

11. It's almost Spring!

12. It's almost Friday!

What's new with you?

xoxo,
SP

Blogging Is Weird*

*No need to point out/remind me that I'm weird. I'm fully aware.

But, isn't blogging kind of strange? (however, I do mean that in a nice way!) (if it wasn't for blogging, I wouldn't know like 90% of my friends!)

For example, I missed a very special friends baby shower over the weekend because I had to work, but, thanks to blogging, I feel like I was there! (ok, so, reading about it on the blog is not even the same and I'm sick about missing such an important part of her life and that wasn't a really good example because now I'm all pissy and annoyed that I wasn't there for her)

Better example: I don't get to see a lot of my friends all the time, in person, but, we're still involved in each other's lives. There. Better example.

Which leads to this: It can be months between visits with some of my favorite gals, but, I "talk" to them almost daily via Twitter or their blog. True, it's kinda voyeuristic, but, let's move past that, k?

I feel like I know what's going on in their lives all the time as if we'd had a real honest to goodness conversation.

I like that.

I don't like that I'm kind of lazy and kind of a bum and need to make more of an effort to actually see my friends face to face instead of being all "Ohh! I saw that on her blog!", but, such is life and such is growing up and such is being busy.

Can't win them all.

It is pretty awesome to have such a great network of friends near and far--friends I see all the time and those I might only see once or twice a year--to those I've never even met. How cool is that?!

Y'all will never know how much I love and appreciate you all.

Really.

xo,
SP

Back In The Game

I had this race over the weekend. It was a half marathon. I had signed up for the ultra marathon because a) I wanted redemption from my failed attempt and b) one of my friends signed up for it, so, I figured "hey, instant training buddy".

But, life got in the way. I was super busy with work. Sick. A lot. Tired, and just plain burnt out.

Running wasn't fun anymore. It was a chore to get up before the sun to get in a few miles. It was a chore to attempt to race home from work and get in a few miles before having to cook dinner and settle in for the evening. It was just too much.

So, I wasn't running. A secret I hopefully was able to keep from you all, but, I wouldn't be surprised if you figured it out either. I wasn't exactly spouting off about my awesomely wonderful 15 mile runs.

I knew that if I didn't run on Sunday, I would regret it. I would kick myself and I'd be annoyed.

I also knew that it could end very, very badly, but, at least I'd have a shiny new medal and a few miles under my belt so gosh darn it, let's do it.

So, I did. 13.1 miles, done and done.

It was a strange race.

My Garmin decided to die minutes before the start, we were almost late to the start and the course changed so much to become flatter, that instead of being hilly but at least scenic and interesting, it was flat and boring as all get out.

I was bored out of my ever loving mind. My iPod was handy, but, I couldn't see my pace so I had no mental games to play with myself, so, it was just "keep a'movin'" until I couldn't.

Luckily, by mile 8, the miles started ticking off faster and after a hell of a hill climb at mile 9, I was on the downhill (literally) stretch home.

Today, I'm sore, go figure, but, I managed to pull out another race.

Two massive blisters, a swollen ankle and exhaustion, but, I'm still so glad I'm a runner. It's who I am, after all.

Here's hoping I'm back in the game!

(in case you're wondering, my knee and IT Band held up amazingly! I'm hopeful this is a sign of good things to come)

Proudest Day of My Life

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that there was a lot of talk about registration for the Marine Corps Marathon yesterday. Registration opened at 11AM central time yesterday and you can bet your bottom dollar I was hitting "refresh" on that website every five minutes starting at 10:30.

I got myself a spot in my most favoritest marathon ever and did a happy little jig around the office. My office mates were not amused.

Then, on my post marathon registration high, I remembered that my mother in law had told everyone at Christmas that running a marathon was on her bucket list (no, really, she did. I have witnesses). She had been to my first marathon and was really inspired.

I told her that Marine Corps would be the perfect race to do because it's the end of October, which gives her plenty of time to train, and it's such a unique experience.

So, I started harassing her via text, g chat and email. I didn't hear back so I assumed the answer was no.

Well, on my way home yesterday, she agreed to go for it! She's registered for the 2011 Marine Corps Marathon! Y'all, I want to cry I'm so excited. She's not a runner. Like, at all. Even a little bit. We're starting from scratch, but, I know she can do it.

I'm workin' up a training plan and cannot wait to cross that finish line with her. I am going to be by her side the entire way. If that means we walk/run, that's fine with me.

If y'all thought I was emotional about Marine Corps last year, just wait until I recap running a race with my favorite lady in world. It.will.be.AWESOME.

In other news.... my freaking IT band sucks booty and I'm totally gonna have to basically walk this damn half marathon this weekend (yeah, remember when I signed up for the ultra? Yeah, janky hip puts a hitch in that plan. 13.1 it is. Although this bad ass chick is running the ultra). But, I gotta do it. I gotta do it!

Can't wait to tell y'all about my momma's marathon progress!