Thankful Thursday [7]

I am off to run a half marathon this weekend and want to focus my thankful heart on my run!

[1] thankful for legs which work well most of the time and will carry me across the finish line

[2] thankful for friends and family who run with and support me

[3] thankful for asthma decreasing over the years and making something like this possible

[4] thankful for a beautiful city like Savannah for hosting a Rock & Roll Run!

[5] thankful for time off of work to enjoy my hubby and family down at the beach

[6] thankful for Asics ... best shoes for my running style!

[7] thankful for my sister Elizabeth who got me on this whole running kick in the first place!

[8] thankful for cute running outfits which make me feel cuter while I run

[9] thankful for Gu ... not my fave but oh-so needed by about mile 9

[10] lastly, I am thankful for this beautiful life, where I am able to do such things and travel freely to run where I please...

What are you thankful for today?  Go on over to Curious Georgi and link up!

Monday Phone Dump

I've been meaning to do this for a while, and it's about time I pull the trigger...or just hit 'send' on the email to get these pics off my phone! 

This is my favorite little snout out the window!  Love me some Guster!! 

Although we were two weeks late, we did eat a slice of our wedding cake.  It was surprisingly yummy :) I love cake almost as much as my husband

BL says this to me all the time when I talk too fast or too much...haha!  I clipped it from a newspaper headline and now post it to see at work everyday :)

Not ashamed to admit that after every long run on the weekends, my first stop is Mickey D's for some tea...  Guilty pleasure well-earned after running 11 miles!! 

 

This weekend I was in Chicago for work, but made time to go stand 103 floors above ground at the (newly renamed) Willis Tower.  I was so brave, until I stood there for about 10 seconds, then become suddenly freaked!  

On another note, who changes a name of an icon like Sears Tower?  

Obsessed with this new nail polish...the pic doesn't do it justice.  I am usually very brand loyal to OPI, but a good sale at Ulta brought me this baby.

On a side note, I've changed all of these photos with the iPhone app Instagram.  Love this app!  If you have an iPhone, make sure you download this :) Sorry if I am totally behind the times and you all already have this app!  I'm a brand new iPhone user, folks!

Make it a great day friends!

September Travels

Time flies when you're having fun, right?!  

I wanted to share some of my favorite vacation photos before an entire month flew by!  BL & I had a blast in LA and then Vegas for our one year anniversary....

...don't try this at home, kids...

I. Love. Cupcakes.

Cirque du Soleil "O"

This is a must see if you're in Vegas!  Probably the most over-priced show, but oh-so worth it! 

My first time seeing the water show in front of the Bellagio.  Stunning!

Last night there...

We loved our stay at the Palms and would certainly go back!

Happy Anniversary, BL!

SUYL - My Fur Baby

Let me first start off by saying I was blown away at the love shown by my blog friends this week.  If anyone says you can't have real friends and feel real love from blogging, then they are flat out (yes, no way around it) wrong.  Thank you to each of you who have reached out to me, words can't express the way you are helping my heart heal. XOXO

Now on to one of my favorite Link Up! Parties...Kelly's Korner - Show Us Your Life...

My fur baby Gus, or Guster G Browntown for short, is my second favorite black man in the world.  

BL is my first ;)

He just turned 5 this last month, and I have been his momma for 4 1/2 of those years.  He is hilarious and fun, smart and gentle, fast and lovable.  I love my Gus and don't even want to think about life without this crazy rescued MUTT!!  

Funny story...as you see from my blog title today, I call Gus our "fur baby".  So one day the cashier at the grocery store asked if BL & I had any kids, to which I replied "No, but we do have a fur baby!" That poor sweet kid, he looked at me and said "Oh, that's fun, so do you have any pets?"  HA! HA!  He must have heard "furby"! 

 Gus and his BFF, Frank the Tank!

 My poor cone head!

(whoa, long dark hair alert...)

 

well hello October, and hello honesty.

September came and went in a flash, and I apparently fell off of the blog radar screen as the month flew by. While I have missed blogging and missed catching up with the sweet friends I have made through this blog, I have also become a bit convicted about the tone in my blog and what I am posting.  I realize a lot of blog writers and readers think there is a lot of TMI on blogs, which has always made me a little gun-shy of sharing what is really going on behind the pictures and travel and baking experiences.  That being said, I also realize that blog writers and readers come to the blog world to share their lives and, in many cases, find people experiencing the same hardships or struggles they're going through in an effort to gain knowledge on the problem, or at the very least, a little comfort. 


This last week, I celebrated my one-year anniversary with my AHHHHmazing husband, BL, and was able to look back on this last year with joy and many tears.  Our first year was wonderful, fun, exciting and easily the most devastating year of my life.  Shocking, I know, to read that someone's blissful first year of marriage was also the most devastating, but in continuing the new theme as mentioned above, I want to be honest about our situation. 

Let's rewind to February, shall we.....

We had to say goodbye to one of my favorite men in the whole wide world, my Granddaddy.  It was much harder than I thought it would be, even knowing it was coming for quite some time.  Luckily, BL was a rock, and I could not have asked for better support through this trial.  

March came around, and was one crazy month...here is a portion of a blog post I wrote but was too scared to share for fear people would think it was TMI never published: 

March 14, 2011
I felt suddenly sick, like I am going to lose all contents of my tummy sick. I had been out in California for 6 days already, and my hours were crazy.  I was eating when I could, which meant the salad I just had at 9:00pm from room service was normal.  Work is crazy this time of year so feeling ill was no surprise; feeling this kind of 'ill' was.  Regardless, I brushed it right off and fought until I finally fell asleep sometime after 11:00. The next morning I was up at 3:15am, exhausted, but ready to head home.  Later in the day I was happily home, ready to go to dinner with my hubby but feeling totally sick to my stomach.  Again.  Sweet hubs' meeting ran late so by the time we leave I am totally cranky and need. food. FAST. He took me to my favorite Chinese restaurant and I had my usual slow-cooked chicken & veggies....yumm-o!  I was sick to my stomach for hours, yet famished and scarfing down Chinese food...odd combo, and apparently BL thought so too. As we finished dinner BL said "let's go get a test" .... "you're not acting like yourself and you feel sick and haven't had your period"

On that evening of March 15, BL and I found out we were going to be parents. 

Laughter. Tears. More laughter.  We couldn't believe it! We were beyond thrilled to be bringing a baby into this world! 

Unfortunately, by deductive reasoning or simple lack of any baby bump, you can guess what happened next.... we lost the baby at just over 8 weeks and my world flipped upside down.   

Tears.  Sorrow.  Aching.  Tears. Sobs.  

No one, and I do mean NO ONE, could prepare a woman for the heartache of miscarriage.  Every person is different and every situation is different, but feeling like you've failed at your first assignment as a mother (ie- growing a child in your womb) is devastating, to say the least. 

I would like to write that I bounced right back and was my usual self within weeks, but that would simply be a lie.  Don't get me wrong, I put on a great front, but inside, I was crumbling.  

Over the next couple of months, I slowly regained confidence in myself as a woman.  It took a super supportive husband, loving family, kind friends and a foundation built on our relationship with Jesus Christ to rebuild what the miscarriage destroyed.  Not a day goes by when I don't think about our baby that we'll never meet this side of heaven.  Knowing that I would have been over 8 months preggo right now brings a sting to my heart, but also hope for my future.   

I am continually learning to lean on my relationship with Jesus Christ and find the much needed comfort in Him.  I love Psalms 28:6-7 Praise be to the LORD, for he has heard my cry for mercy. The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.  My life has been, and continues to be, richly blessed with women who are walking through this crazy life with me and teaching me to trust in God’s unfailing love and plan for my life. 

So where are we today?  Obviously not pregnant.  In fact, we’ve had some other setbacks that I will dive into on another post, on another day.  I could continue this post for. ev. er. [Sandlot, anyone?] but, I will end it here with a big ol’ fat To Be Continued… 

Make it a great day!