can I run 13.1 miles?

On March 20, 2011 I will be running my first half marathon!  I found out today that I was accepted into the 2011 New York City half marathon.  I am so excited but also pretty nervous because I have never run a race this long before.  I used to run cross country but that was only a 5K, granted it was on a very hilly course but still it wasn't even close to 13.1 miles.

Kevin has promised that he will be there cheering me on.  It will mean so much to hear him screaming for me and I know it will make me run even faster.  I wonder if he knows that the race starts at 7:25 on a Sunday morning... hehe.  I hope my parents will come cheer me on as well.  My mom was my best cheerleader when I ran cross country and I definitely ran my best when she was there.  

So now my training begins.  Do I even know how to train?  Nope but I will do my best.  This half marathon will be a great jump start to getting in shape and losing weight for my September wedding.

the most beautiful animated film

I just saw this little animated film on Rockstar Diaries and I had to re-post it.  Please watch it, you will not be disappointed!

Thought of You from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.

I am completely blown away by this.

Thought of You - Behind the Scenes Preview - ROUGH CUT from Cambell Christensen on Vimeo.

 I wish I was a dancer!

it's that itch again

Uh oh.  It's that itch again.  That tattoo itch.  I want another one.  No wait I want two more.  Hmmm maybe three... 

I love tattoos, absolutely love them.  Kevin on the other hand isn't as into them as I am.  He likes the tattoos I have now and was so supportive about my big bluebird tattoo (even though he was a little nervous about it), but he doesn't want me to be covered in tattoos.  While I am a firm believer in getting a tattoo for yourself and not letting other people's opinions influence you I have to respect the way Kevin feels.  Even though it is MY body I do share it with him and he has to see it everyday.  I would never want it to be hard for him to look at me.  So while I would rush out there and get the tattoos I want I think I have to run them by him first and get him on board.

Hmmm I wonder how he will feel about me getting tattooed again before we get married...

Update: Kevin was not very pleased when he read this post.  I had to assure him that I am not making plans for any big tattoos.  I only have a couple small tattoo ideas.

new beginnings

2011 is going to be a new beginning for me.  Not just because it is a new year but also because I quit my job last week (yikes) and will spend the beginning of 2011 hunting for a new one.  I have been very unhappy with my current job for over a year and I finally reached my breaking point.  Kevin really helped me decide that it was time for me to quit and start the new year with a better attitude.  I could not be luckier to have the most wonderful, understanding and supportive fiance!  My new job at the beginning of 2011 will be finding a new job, haha.  I really need to take some time to think hard about what I want to be doing so I don't go from one job I don't like to another one I don't like.  I am really looking forward to doing a little soul searching:)

So many wonderful things will happen to me in 2011!  I will lose weight (I am not allowing myself the option of wimping out on this one - it WILL happen), I will find a new job, Kevin and I will move into a new apartment and Kevin and I will become HUSBAND and WIFE.  I am so excited about every one of these things and I just can't wait to get 2011 started.

I hope everyone else is as excited about 2011 as I am!

present dilemma

So I have been dating Kevin for over 4 years which means we have spent approximately 15 "present giving" holidays together.  That would be Christmas, Valentine's Day, his birthday and our dating anniversary to be exact.  You would think that after all that time I would have gotten pretty good at figuring out what to get Kevin but the sad truth is that I have not.  Every time one of these "present giving" holidays approaches I start to panic.  You see I am at a major disadvantage here because Kevin gets me amazing presents.  Well really he cheats because he works at a sapphire company so he has endless amounts of sparkly goodies at his fingertips.  I guess that really isn't cheating but it sure makes it easy to get a kick-ass last minute present.  Even when he doesn't get me something sparkly he always gets me something I have been wanting for a while.  I like to think that I make it pretty easy for him because I talk about things I want alllllll the time, haha.  Soooo, in order to help myself be more prepared with present ideas I have started a little note in my phone where I can jot down ideas whenever they pop in my head.  So far there is nothing exciting on that list, just three pretty lame ideas.  Ugh, this is so hard.  Why can I rattle off at least 10 awesome things that I would want as a present but I can't even come up with 3 good ideas for the love of my life.  Does anyone else have this dilemma?  It seems I'm not engaged to a person who actively wants things and vocalizes it.  He is also the kind of person who will just buy himself something if he really wants it.  Oh well.

This year I got Kevin a pretty nice Christmas present.  No, I did not come up with the idea on my own.  He told me what he wanted so I can't really take credit for it.  There will be no surprises when he opens his present this Christmas but at least I know he will like it... he better like it!  Now I just have to start thinking of the perfect birthday present.  Did I mention that his birthday is January 13?!?!?!  Only 19 days between 2 "present giving" holidays, yikes!!!

p.s. I think the best present I have ever given Kevin was on our 1 year dating anniversary.  I adopted him a pygmy elephant from the World Wildlife Foundation.  He was really surprised and so excited.  We have a picture of the cute little guy sitting on our bookshelf.  Whenever someone asks about it Kevin proudly tells them that it is his PET PYGMY ELEPHANT.  Too cute!!!

wedding decor inspiration

I have been a little quiet so far this December so what better way to break the silence than with a little wedding decor inspiration.  I spend most of my time dreaming about what I think our wedding will look like and I am constantly pouring over wedding blogs and wedding magazines to find more details that go along with the overall look I am trying to achieve.  

I would say that the theme of our wedding is "simple country elegance with a fall twist."  Haha does that make sense?  I grew up in the country and Kevin has spent a lot of time at his family's house in Montana so having a more rustic feeling wedding was important to us - well important to me anyway and I think he is just going with the flow.  We are getting married in September so I want to incorporate the feeling of New England fall as much as possible.  Here are a couple pictures that I find particularly inspiring.  

Ceremony decor:

I really love the idea of adding pumpkins and gourds!

Reception decor:

We are going to use lots and lots of dahlias that my parents will grow!

I want to use as many natural elements that I can.

Paper goods:

Overall atmosphere:

Kevin and I have not had a chance to walk through the reception site so I haven't been able to make many solid plans about how I was to decorate it or how much I have to decorate it.  I have planned the ceremony decoration but probably won't make too many solid reception decoration plans until the spring.  Luckily we still have about 9 months till the wedding so I am not feeling stressed... yet:)

I took all this photos off the internet and have had them in a my wedding inspiration folder for ages so sadly I have no idea what wedding blog each of these came from... is it against blogging code for me to use them?  I promise I mean no harm and do not want to upset anyone.  If you see an image that belongs to you please let me know and I will either take it down or credit it accordingly.  I believe all these images came from one of these wedding blogs:  

Style Me Pretty or Once Wed or Snippet and Ink or Green Wedding Shoes or 100 Layer Cake

knicks game

Last night Kevin and I got to go to our first NBA game ever thanks to my dear friend Ingram (Chris Ingram that is).  It was such a blast.  The crowd was a very New York crowd, totally different from the NY Rangers crowd, hehe.

 Woohoo the Knicks won!

We had to stop and get a picture with the inflatable Budweiser bottle on the way home, haha.