God’s Gift…

 

…to the calendar.

October 25, 1982, my friends. 

That’s right.

THE DAY OF MY BIRTH.

Good times.

So on Tuesday I turned the big 2-9.  It was a good day, nothing too wild and crazy.  I got up early and went on a 6 miler with Abby and Bex.  I don’t know if was because it was my birthday but it felt absolutely wonderful!  The first half was super slow, but I sped up a little for the second half and finished around a 11 minute mile. Great way to start your birthday if you ask me! 

Also, this weekend Tom and I went to Nashville (more about that later in this post) and made a pit stop at Trader Joe’s on our way out of town.  I was on the hunt for some awesome coffee that Katie had mentioned, but found out they were out UNTIL NEXT YEAR.  Wop-wop.

So I bought some Pumpkin Pancake and Waffle mix instead. This stuff will seriously make you get out of bed in the morning.  It is sooooo good and easy to make.  Of course, I’ve always been a really bad pancake-maker (as evident by the well-done ‘cakes in the picture below) but even I had an easy time with these.

So after my run I had the Withers Pancake House Blue Plate Special and headed off to work! In our office, we get everyone a little $10 gift for their birthday.  My co-worker Adrienne knows and shares my affinity for lip gloss and bought me this awesome sampler set from Sephora.  In addition to 2 Diet Cokes and a Golden Retriever puppy card, this was the perfect birthday gift for me!

When I got home, my mom had sent me this adorable bouquet of flowers!  I love the candy corn vase filler…very ‘me,’ don’t you think? As you might remember from last year, it’s a Withers Gone Wild birthday tradition for the birthday boy or girl to get a steak dinner, birthday cake and ice cream, and a $100 bill on their birthday.   Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.  I bought myself a new pair of running shoes with my hundy.

Tom also gave me this gorgeous McCarty plate that I have been eyeing for some time!!!  The swirl down the middle is supposed to represent the Mississippi River, since the artist is from Mississippi. I love it, and can’t wait to put it up on the shelves after the holiday decorations come down. So after work we headed over to my in-laws for some birthday fun with the fam.  Lilly wanted to help me blow out the candles. When Mamie (my MIL…her grandmother name is Mamie, her real name is Lilibeth) set the cake down in front of us Lilly shrieked, “IT’S PIIIIIINK!!!!”  she was shaking, she was so excited.  So cute.

And of course she helped me blow out the candles too. 

After dinner she wanted to ‘do hair.’  This is her new thing…doing hair.  Doing hair is basically her tugging and brushing and petting your hair like a dog and occasionally tapping you on the shoulder to point her finger at you and say, “I not done yet!” After I got my hair done, my father in law said, “Lilly what about me, will do my hair next?”

Lilly gave a sheepish grin and giggled to herself and said, “No, Boo.  Your hair all gone.”

We all had a good laugh about that.  Boo just shook his head and said, “I guess I walked right in to that one!” It was a fun night, and I am just so thankful that Tom’s family is so sweet and wonderful.  We have a fun time together, and his parents always treat me like one of their own.  Such great in-laws!

Over the weekend prior to my birthday, Tom and I went to Nashville to meet my dad and Louise for some birthday and football fun. We spent the night in a downtown hotel and walked across the pedestrian bridge to the Titans game on Sunday.  It was a gorgeous day and great football weather!  I loved walking across the bridge because when I was living in Nashville I used to go for runs across that bridge when I was training for my first half…the Music City.  Ahhhh, memories! It was a really fun day and my dad swung us some awesome seats at Club Level.  Sadly, the Titans missed the memo that they needed to play some football that day so we left at the beginning of the fourth quarter.  It think the final score ended up being like 47-7 or something terrible like that! Win or lose, we still had a fun quick little trip!

So that was my birthday celebration this year.  Good thing I was born exactly 29 years ago, otherwise yall wouldn’t have this blog to make your life complete!  :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Laura’s Life Lately

Hey Everyone!  Happy Friday to you.

Sorry I’ve been MIA lately…I stare at a computer all day at work, then the last thing I want to do when I get home at night is stare at one some more.  So I’ve been neglecting the blog lately and I apologize!

First thing’s first…I need to tell yall something.

I got home from a late evening at work the other night….

and walked into my bedroom….

only to find Tom in bed with another woman.

Yes, it’s true.  He was in bed with a gorgeous redhead!!!

Look at her, giving me the stink eye.  I told her to get out of my bed and she just stared at Tom lovingly as if to say, “You must choose between us, My Love.”

And much to my dismay, he picked her.  She gave me the stink eye again for trying to move in on her man.  So I just left and went to do some laundry and watch Law & Order in the den.  By myself.

The other day Sara Whit and Brian brought Lilly over for kid’s day at the Tunica Fire Department!

Look at how gorgeous she is.  GORGE I tell you!

Our fire department is made up 100% of volunteers, and I think I’ve mentioned before that Tom is a member.  Each year they bring out the antique fire truck, give rides to the kids, and have hot dogs and hamburgers.  It is a lovely little small-town event.  :)

Lilly with her dad!  I love this picture.  When she was born, she totally looked like a Withers.  As she has gotten a little older she is looking more and more like her dad. Here’s our fearless driver with another truck load of kiddos to tour the neighborhood!

Lilly’s all strapped in and ready to go fight those fires in the ‘fi-yah twuck.’

I think this might be a new favorite of mine!  Such a sweet uncle/niece picture!

We ended the day with hot dogs and Capri Sun.  Fire trucks…friends…hot dogs…what more could a kid want on a Sunday afternoon?!?!

A little update on St. Jude training…

Our longest run to date has been 9 miles.  I was REALLY happy with this time, still hovering around the 11:00+ mile.  

When I read other running blogs, sometimes I feel a little inferior and really slow.  I feel like everyone runs half marathons and marathons in sub-10-minute miles and I’m just this super slow tortoise.  But at the end of the day, an 11 minute mile is better than no mile at all.

And I just have to remember that I am competing against no one but myself, and other people’s times and speeds do not matter to me.  Still.  I feel a little slow, but not enough to get discouraged.

So I am happy with where I am in my training.  Last year I wasn’t dedicated to training and while I PR’d in the race, I felt HORRIBLE the whole time.

I can tell this year will be different because I have been much more dedicated to my training.

This year I wrote out all my planned runs, and highlight them as they are completed. September’s Calendar above

Yes I am shopping on the internet at work, as evident by the picture above.  Don’t act like I’m the only one.

Anyway, this was the plan for this week:

• Sunday: rest
• Monday: 5 mile run
• Tuesday: rest
• Wednesday: 1 hour Cross Training
• Thursday: 8 miles
• Friday: Rest
• Saturday:  10 miles

We completed everything except for the Cross Training, so we are gearing up for a long run of 10 miles tomorrow.  I am nervous, but excited.  I always feel a little nervous before a long run.

But it always feels like such an accomplishment when it’s completed. 

So anyway, I have the whole time leading up to the half-marathon planned out week by week, so that we know where we need to be in terms of mileage.  I also have a place on the plan where I write down my average pace for each run, so I can track my speed as well.

Just a few more weeks until the big day!  Last year I was really dreading this day because I was severely undertrained and knew it.  But this year I am excited to see what I can do because I’ve worked hard and am ready for a good race!

Some other random pictures of life lately….

Fall is here in full force in our part of the country and I enjoyed my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season the other day!!  It was a lovely treat. 

Bex and I came home from a run the other morning and were greeted by this in our back yard:

One perk to getting up and running in the morning, God rewards your efforts with a beautiful view like this!

And I’ll leave you on this lovely Friday with a picture of my daughter having a bad hair day:

  Love her sweet face.

Have a great day everyone, weekend’s almost here!! HOLLA!!!

Signs of the Season

I know the blogosphere lately has been all abuzz with pumpkin concoctions, warm oats, and hot flavored coffee…fall is FINALLY here praise the Lord!

I was chatting with my sister today and mentioned that October was my favorite month because of the weather and because of my birthday.  And she said, “Well, my birthday is in November and it’s not my favorite month.  My favorite month is SUMMER!”  ha ha….

I explained that living in Mississippi in the summer with our 115* days and 95* nights pretty miserable, as she might remember.  She said she did.  And she didn’t blame me for liking October.

Around here, October also welcomes hunting season.

Which means I can welcome plenty of alone time since I am what we call a deer woods widow.  The wife who loses her husband to the deer woods every weekend.

Sidenote:  This is Katie.  Short for Katherine Anne.  I named her when my friend Tim got her as a tiny baby puppy.  She is precious.  Not the best hunting dog ever, but she sure is cute.

Anyway, after Tom’s obsession with the garden subsides, he trades in his gardening hoe or bow and arrow and spends all his spare time in the deer woods. 

But I don’t mind too much….it’s healthy to have hobbies, and it just gives me more time to do the really important things in life…like watch Criminal Minds while eating M&Ms and popcorn. 

For the sake of responsible journalism, I should tell you that these particular pictures were taken back on Labor Day weekend at the dove field. Dove season begins the Saturday before Labor Day, and deer season begins October 1.

Duck season begins the day after Thanksgiving, for those of you who care. And my husband hunts all three as often as possible.

Opening weekend of Dove Season is kind of a kick-off to the fall…everyone gets together in the field and hangs out and watches the dogs retrieve and has a beer or two.

It’s always a fun day!

     

Another sign of the season is I’ve got all my Halloween decorations out! 

I was a little overzealous this year and put them out on like September 25.  I just couldn’t help it!

Here are the good ‘ole shelves!  They’re really starting to grow on me now that I’ve figured out that the black frames with black and white pictures is the way to go. 

       

 

I always get a lot of compliments on these little guys…vases filled with candy corn.  And it never fails…every year someone reaches down in there and grabs a handful before I can stop them.  These candy corn are three years old and are for decorative use only!  Maybe I need a sign… “Please do not eat the decorations.”  Ha ha…

I got these little ghosty guys at Hobby Lobby this year.  LOVE Hobby Lobby, I could live there.

    And I got this candy-pumpkin-filled-candy-corn dish (say that three times fast) at the Dollar General for $1.  Another reason I love Halloween…an excuse to keep candy out in the open.

Another sidenote about my living room:  My new chair came in!  Replaced Old Brownie with this beauty!!!!

I love it.  I stare at it with a goofy grin every time I walk into the room. 

Old Brownie has gone to live at my in-law’s Guest House…also known as The Place Where All Tom’s Old Furniture Goes To Die.  :-/

I spruced up the outside of our house too!

3 fake pumpkins + $1 harvest garland + tons of hot glue = Pumpkin Topiary!

Orange fabric + black felt + Clip Art templates = Halloween pillows!

These pillows were SO easy and cost less than $7 to make for both of them.  And I still have fabric leftover.  I just got some super cheap orange knit fabric at Hobby Lobby.  Along with some black felt.

I made the pillow covers, and simply cut out the cat and bats using a template I printed off of Microsoft Word Clip Art.  Then glued them to the pillow cover with fabric glue!  So easy and cute, if I do say so myself. 

(try not to be too jealous of my Dirty-McDirtyton rocking chairs)  Happy Fall Y’all!!!