I'm Honored.....

....that Sam @ The Junk House picked me to receive these two blogger awards:

This is my first blog award and I'm pretty pumped about it. Thank you Sam for making my day. Everyone go check out her blog and show some love. Her blog is very cute and I can't wait to see how she transforms her new house!

Here are the rules for the blog awards:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you these awards.

2. Tell everyone 7 random facts about yourself.

3. Pass the award to 7 lovely bloggers.

4. Contact each blogger and let them know you've passed the award onto them.

7 random facts about me:

1. Ever since I was a VERY young girl, I knew I wanted to be a hairstylist. Thankfully, I am currently living that dream and doing hair as my full time job and I LOVE every minute of it. My goal is to open up my own salon & spa someday.

2. In the past 7 months I've run a 5K, completed a triathlon, and I'm currently training for my first marathon. I'm NOT a runner and this has been a HUGE challenge, but I'm making it so far! It has been one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. Can't wait to cross the finish line in May!

3. I'm a chip addict.....like BAD! I could sit down and eat a whole family sized bag of chips in a very short amount of time. If you don't believe me just ask my college roommates. I'm to blame for getting them hooked on chips too.

4. I played volleyball in college for two years and the last two years of college I joined the pom squad. I'd never taken a dance class in my life, but I thought I'd give dancing a shot. I used to want to be a cheerleader before I played volleyball so I was somewhat familiar with the concept. It was a sight for sore eyes to watch me dance, but I loved it and I'm so thankful I gave it a try.

5. If I could switch professions I would be a wedding planner or a photographer. I love all things wedding and photography and I could sit on the Internet all day and look at pictures of weddings. I've pretty much been planning my wedding since I was in middle school and I already have a large collection of wedding items. Is that weird?? Ha

6. When I was in college my roommates and I walked into our house and there was a strange man inside wrapped up in my roommates comforter. Totally random fact, but it was the scariest thing I've ever encountered and I'm still scarred from it to this day.

7. I started this blog when I bought my Canon camera so that I could post all my pictures for my family to see. I thought it would be a lot easier than e-mailing large picture files. I'm so glad I started this blog. Blogging is one of my new favorite things to do. Although sometimes I feel bad for spending so much time doing it, I figure it's better than sitting around and watching TV. I love reading other's blogs and they've inspired me tremendously!

I'm going to pass the awards onto 5 blogs that I follow and love to read. Each of these blogs are very different from each other which is why I love them. They talk about all kinds of things including: school, family, friends, cooking, marriage, babies, and awesome upcoming adventures in far out places :) I know some of the authors of these blogs personally and a few of them I don't, but I sure do love reading what they have to share. Make sure you click on the links and check out their blogs....I promise you'll love them!

-It's A Love Story, Baby Just Say Yes

-Love, The Porter's

-Sabrina Johnette

-Something Frosty

-Confessions of a 20 Something

Also, thanks to Christina @ Christina's Adventures for featuring my cake stand project on her "20 Below Thursday" craft link party. Check out her fun blog here.

I Have a Confession to Make.....

...I cry everytime I see this commercial and I've seen it four times today. I'll definitely be watching this show. Such a neat idea for a new TV series!

Training Progress #8!

8 weeks down, 10 more to go!!!

Today I ran my first half marathon!!!!! I didn't technically run a half marathon race, but I ran 13 miles today for my training.....and I ran it alone. I didn't have my usual friend, mother, boyfriend there to ride their bike beside me. I was pretty nervous about how that would go because I feel like it's so much easier when someone is there with you. It ended up being just fine. I took 3 Ibuprofen before I ran because I was afraid my right foot was going to really bother me and I think it did the trick. I didn't have much pain in my foot at all and I still don't. I'm sure it will be sore in the morning. Thankfully the weather was a bit cooler today. I think that made the run SO much easier. Here's how far I ran this week:

Tuesday: ran 3 miles (duration of run: 31 mins, 8 secs)
Wednesday: ran 6 miles (58:04...thanks to my best friend Alli for running with me.)
Thursday: ran 3 miles (27:14)
Monday: ran 13 miles (2 hour, 10 mins, 1 sec, burned 1,222 calories)

This week I will run 3 miles Wednesday, 7 miles Thursday, 4 miles Friday, and 10 miles Monday. I'm thankful for a shorter long run this week because after that it only keeps going up :(

A Few Treasures!

I found a few treasures this weekend at an estate sale. I didn't have a whole lot of time to visit different garage sales, but I did hit up a few and here's what I found. I bought two of these lamps for $10 a piece. The coolest thing about them is that they are touch sensitive lamps. I'm planning on spray painting the base of the lamps white and I'd like to cover a circular lamp shade in Chevron fabric. Not sure what color of fabric yet. Here's kind of what I was thinking.

I want the same exact shape of this lamp shade and I want the Chevron fabric, but in a different color. I'm not positive yet if I'll paint the bottom white, or if I'll get brave and paint it a fun color. I'd like to paint it white and find a grey and white Chevron fabric.

I also bought two of these shutters for $2 a piece. I have a shutter hanging in my kitchen as a bulletin board and my best friend said she would like to make one for her house. I gave her one of the shutters and I'll probably use the other one to make a bulletin board as a gift for someone....not sure who yet!

Here's a picture of my shutter bulletin board that's in my kitchen. It's pretty cluttered, but I like it that way because I like to display and keep all of my invitations and cards that I receive.

Hopefully I'll have the lamps done soon so I can show you how they turn out!

Cake Stand Reveal!

Here's a picture of my cake stand collection thus far. I have a few more candlesticks left, but I haven't found plates for them yet. I found this candlestick and it matched the green color on the plate perfectly so I left it as is and just glued the plate to the candlestick. Easy as 1.2.3. I used a glue called 9001. I bought it at Hobby Lobby and it can be used on various surfaces, including ceramic. It does take about 24 hours to dry so you have to be patient.


I liked the way this plate looked with the glass candlestick. I figured it'd probably be hard if I tried to paint the candlestick white since it might not match the plate exactly.

This candlestick used to be plain wood before I painted it turquoise. I like the way it turned out!

This is my fave! The candlestick looks more blue in the picture than it actually is in person. I like the way it looks better in person than I do in pictures. I'll probably make another trip to Pier 1 today and buy a couple more of these plates. They have them in different colors and I think they'd be fun with different color candlesticks.

Training Progress #7!

7 weeks down, 11 weeks to go!

I'm so thankful that all the snow has melted and that I'm finally able to run outside again. I was able to get all my runs in this week, although I put my long run off until today. Aaron came into town this weekend and we had things planned and running 12 miles didn't really fit into that plan. I decided to run today on my day off. Aaron rode his bike beside me the whole way. He started getting sick last night and was very congested and had a really bad sore throat. He thinks it might be allergies/sinus infection....no fun. I could tell he didn't feel good AT ALL, but he still rode 12 miles with me.....he's such a trooper. Here's a recap of my running this week:

Tuesday: ran 3 miles (duration of run: 28 min 46 sec)
Wednesday: ran 6 miles (59:57, thanks to my friend's Sabrina and Rachel for coming to the gym with me and being great running buddies, they did an awesome job!)
Thursday: ran 3 miles (27:57)
Monday: ran 12 miles (2 hours, 4 mins, and 45 secs, 10:57 mile pace, 1,155 calories burned)

12 miles was absolutely brutal....toughest run I've done to date. It was extremely windy today and running against the wind killed me. I guess it was good practice though. The thing that bothered me most today during my long run was my right foot falling asleep. It fell asleep around mile 7 and continued to stay numb throughout the last 5 miles....NOT COOL! I get extremely cold after my long runs and I don't ever warm up until I get a hot bath in. When I say hot, I mean H-O-T.....I barely turn on any cold water. I knew I was really exhausted after my run today because I fell asleep in the bathtub afterwards and I've never done that before. Thankfully my long run is over and now I can start worrying about this upcoming week. I will be running 3 miles Tuesday, 6 miles Wednesday, 3 miles Thursday, and 13 miles (that's a half marathon, YAHOO) Saturday. Wish me luck because I'll for sure need it.

Having a sick boyfriend on Valentine's Day= no fun. We've had a change of plans for tonight and we'll be staying in and ordering pizza and watching a movie. Fine by me, I just feel really bad for him because he's pretty upset about it. Hope everyone is enjoying their Valentine's Day!

The Latest!

We had another snow day this week and it was much more fun than the last because I was actually able to get out in it and enjoy the snow.This was what I woke up to in the morning. He doesn't ever sleep in my bed through the night, but occasionally he will jump up in bed with me in the mornings to snuggle. He is basically a horse so he takes up about as much room as I do in the bed, but boy is he a good cuddler! He's so sweet and melts my heart.Then I started on my cake stands. I went to a bunch of antique stores on my day off to look for candlesticks and I hit the jackpot. I found 7 candlesticks at one shop and bought them all. They were all different sizes and styles and I think they're going to turn out so cute. I also bought a few more plates......this one is my favorite. I found it at Pier 1 for $5 and couldn't resist. The base of this stand will be a color called Lagoon blue. It's going to be lovely. Can't wait to show the finished product. We also made an attempt to go sledding. It wasn't the greatest sledding I've ever done because the snow was very powdery and the park we went to didn't have very big hills. We thought they appeared bigger than they actually were. It was still fun to attempt though! I went to lunch with my mom the other day and she had an early Valentine's Day surprise for me and oh was I ever surprised. I got a text message from her the other day that said Ree Drummond ("The Pioneer Woman") would be in the OKC area at her book signing. Unfortunately, I had to text her back and tell her that I couldn't go because I had to work, but I was pretty bummed that I would miss out. Come to find out, my mom wasn't able to make it either, but she called up there and had them put a book aside for me and she made sure that Ree signed it as well. What an AWESOME surprise! I'm proud to say that it took me 3 days to read it.... I could not put it down. The book is about how "The Pioneer Woman" met her husband and fell madly in love. It's called "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels" and it's quite comical because she was such a city girl and she fell for a cowboy. In some ways, I can relate to her stories so it made it that much more fun to read. Thank you thank you thank you mom for the awesome gift. Probably one of my favorite gifts ever!!

Tonight Aaron will be in town. He's coming to visit for the weekend and staying until Tuesday. I'm so excited to get to spend an entire weekend and then some so we can celebrate Valentine's Day together. It worked out perfectly because Valentine's Day fell on a Monday and that's one of my days off. We are going to the Eli Young Band concert tonight with my brother and his fiance and some of our friends. It should be a great time. If you're not familiar with Eli Young Band here's one of my favorite songs that they sing (it wouldn't let me add the video on here so you'll have to click the link to view it). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvbzd5688l4

Training Progress #6!

6 weeks down, 12 more to go, which = 1/3 of the way done!! HOORAY!

It's kind of crazy to say that I'm 1/3 of the way done because I feel like I just started training. I hope the next 12 weeks fly by as fast as the 6 weeks did, but something tells me they won't. It's kind of crazy to think that May really is just around the corner. The snow put a huge damper on my running schedule this week. Unfortunately, I'm sad to say I had to skip another 3 mile run due to the blizzard-like weather that hit. I had to do all of my running in the gym which makes it 2x harder. Just so you get a little taste, when I ran my 5 miles I had to run 55 times around the track. Talk about boredom and dizziness. Luckily when I ran the 7 miles I was able to use a different gym that has a bigger track so I ran 42 laps instead of 77 laps.....that would have been BRUTAL otherwise. We're supposed to get 7-12 more inches of snow within the next few days so I'm hoping I will be able to get out of the house and get my workouts in. Here's the rundown on this past week:

Wednesday- ran 3 miles (duration of run: 29:33)
Thursday- ran 5 miles (48:29)
Friday- supposed to run 3, but skipped due to weather...OOPS!
Sunday- ran 7 miles (1 hr and 20 mins)

This next week's schedule is going to be pumped up a few notches....GREEEEAAATTT! Can't you tell I'm really excited? I will be running 3 miles on Tuesday, 6 miles Wednesday, 3 miles Thursday, and 12 miles Saturday! Hope I survive :/

DIY Cake Stands!

(source: tiny prints)

I've been seeing a lot of fun DIY cake stands around blog world lately. They seem very easy to make and they look so cute. I've always wanted a wide variety of cake stands so that you can use as presentation pieces when you host parties and such. Basically all you need to make your own cake stand is a candlestick and a plate. I found a bunch of really cute plates the other day at TJMaxx and I couldn't resist buying them, after all the price tag was very appealing. I'm planning on making all three plates into cake stands, but I haven't found the perfect size candlesticks yet. I want some of mine to be taller like the above picture and I want some to be short. I also haven't decided what color to paint the candlesticks.

Plate #1- I thought this plate would make a really cute all white cake stand. I love the fun detail along the edge. I'm planning on painting the candlestick bottom of this one white, I just hope I can match the white color perfectly.Plate #2- I love this cute plate. I figured it could be used as a stand for my friend's upcoming baby shower. I'm thinking about painting the candlestick a fun turquoise or green color...what do you think? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Plate #3- I liked this plate mainly because of the shape, but I also really like the color and the design too. Not sure if I should do a solid white candlestick or a green color. Help please!

I'm planning on venturing out to find candlesticks sometime this weekend and I'll hopefully have them done by the end of next week. I'll make sure and post after pictures!

Snow Pups!

Samson was having so much fun that he was laughing at the camera.

Then he decided to take a very serious picture.

Harris' serious face

Harris' smiling face

I caught Harris in mid pee.

Samson & Harris LOVE to play in the snow. They could run around in it chasing each other and wrestling ALL DAY! I went outside yesterday and took a few pics of them playing.

SNOW DAY!

I had a very productive, relaxing, and fun snow day. I didn't get out of my pajamas all day and it felt WONDERFUL! My friend Sabrina came over last night to stay with me so she wasn't snowed in at her house all alone. My snow day consisted of the following:

-I completed the book I was reading for our book club. It's called Sarah's Key and it was very good. I highly recommend it. It was about the Vel'd'Hiv roundup that took place during WWII. I found this book very interesting because I traveled to Poland and visited the Auschwitz concentration camp.

- I caught up on the latest episode of The Bachelor. I LOVE Emily. She is absolutely precious and she makes me cry almost every episode. I really hope he either chooses her or if he doesn't then I hope they choose her to be the next Bachelorette. Michelle drives me nuts, she is crazy and I can't wait for her to be off the show.

- Sabrina and I made The Pioneer Woman's homemade cinnamon rolls and they were SCRUMPTIOUS. It took a good portion of the day, but we made a batch of about 30 and I froze two whole pans so we can eat them later and I can take some to work and to my parents. You can find the recipe here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/cinammon_rolls_/

Samson loved playing in the snow too! I didn't go outside today at all so I plan on playing in the snow tomorrow with the doggies and taking a lot of pictures.