Out With the Old!

After too many miles (more than I would like to admit) were put on my trusty Nike's, I decided it was time to upgrade. My decision mainly stems from the fact that I, and a couple of my friends, signed up to run the Thanksgiving Day Half Marathon. My goal is not only to run the half that morning but also to use this as an opportunity to eat as much food as possible on Turkey Day. My friends and I will have definitely earned our meals!



My new shoes are Nike as well. What can I say except that I'm consistent? It amazes me how much better this new pair feels, which really means my old shoes were shot. This causes me to wonder how badly I may have damaged myself by delaying a change... Anyways, these new guys have been on a couple test runs and now have about 11.5 miles on them.

I've been wanting to do another half for a while. My last (and first) one was the inaugural Atlanta Half in March 2007. I didn't train nearly as hard for that one as I plan to for this one. I've really ramped up my training schedule this time to 6 days a week: 2 days at 3-5 miles, 1 day dedicated to the long run (anywhere from 4-13 miles), and 3 days of cross training which includes weights and walking.

I know some of you are thinking, "Oh my gosh! What is wrong with her?!" But, if you have ever done an event like this, you know the exhiliration, the joy, and the pride it brings to yourself once you cross the finish line. The end justifies the training.

Plus, I don't know about any of you, but running is my time. It is a chance to work through frustration, think, pray, marvel at Creation, and challenge myself. Am I making you excited yet? Have I made any converts today?! Anyways, more updates to come on the training process. Hopefully, I'll get my bib number in time to post for you all, and if you feel so inclined (and are up early enough on Turkey Day), you may track my progress online as they provide tracking chips to all the runners.


Along with a change in my shoes, I finally changed our bed accessories to our new stuff. I promised myself that I would convert over once the master bathroom was renovated to prevent any damage.

Once again I have gone and made the bed extra comfy by adding Egyptian cotton sheets and a down comforter. Now I will never want to get out of bed! I must give a special thanks to my mother-in-law, who gave us the majority of the bedding ensemble, and to Ria, who gave us the throw pillows. I'll need to add some other items for additional color it seems. I know the wall is screaming "Put some pictures on me!", but after working so hard to patch, sand, and paint these walls, the last thing I want to do is put holes back in them. Maybe we can bring picture mold back in style, and then we'd never have to worry about putting holes in walls again. Having your pics hang on wires from the picture mold might be kind of retro classic looking anyhow.

Another One Bites the Dust...

As promised, here are the pics of our adventure in tiling. Cliff is cutting the travertine with our tile saw out on the back patio. Look at Mr. Safety with his glasses on! Below are several pics of the tiling in action. Don't worry, I had a hand in helping lay this floor too, but I was the one with the camera perserving all the action on film!

Take note of the ugly lights and faucets in the pic below. They are now gone! Scroll down to find out what the new ones look like!

Hooray for new fixtures! The frame around the mirror was a Cliff special. He constructed it out of MDF and added the black paint to match the updated cabinets.

Here's one of my favorite additions: the curved shower curtain rod! I love it! It gives the shower so much more space. I highly recommend one if you're thinking of updating a bathroom.

And of course, Stormy the cat couldn't resist testing out the new bathmat for its comfort capacity. As stated in previous posts, she always needs to cuddle something. This is one of those super soft Egyptian cotton bathmats from Bed, Bath & Beyond purchased with one of our wedding gift cards and a 20% off coupon. Plus, the color matches our new towels, so it really was the natural choice. So yippee for a new bathroom and another room completed in our house! Now it's onto working on the dining room...

Backyard Bunny

I know some of you have heard me mention the bunnies who live in our backyard. Usually there are two of them, and they love to hop around the yard eating the clover and other various plants (aka. weeds). Aside from keeping our yard trimmed, their favorite activity is torturing our cats. Stormy and Marina sit at our den windows peering out at these strange little creatures thinking "I'd like to chase you". In Marina's case, she is probably thinking "I'd like to eat you". (She is a very large cat.) So here is a shot of our poor little Stormy gazing at one of our bunnies longing to chase it around the yard.

As for Cliff and I, we have been finishing up the renovation to our master bathroom. The tile is completely down as well as new faucets and lights being in place. We installed the new shower curtain rod and its accessories last night, so I'll get some pics of everything this evening for my next post.

Stormy the Cat

My cat Stormy is notorious for getting under the covers in the bed and just about any blanket, towel, or comforter she can find. The above picture is her snuggled under the covers after I had changed our sheets a couple weeks ago. For whatever reason, she loves to jump on the bed while, not after, I am changing the sheets and making the bed. Often she will simply make herself at home under the covers for a good while after the bed has been made. I think her reasoning is that she wants to beat her sister cat, Marina, to the newly changed linens so they will smell like her, and she has "claimed her turf". She is quite competitive!




Here is the perfect example of her need to "participate" when I change our sheets. Look at her when I started changing our sheets this past weekend. To my surprise, she invaded the bed while I turned our featherbed. (Yes, I am a bed snob. We have a featherbed and an egg crate. It is quite hard to get out of bed in mornings sometimes...most of the time...) So I finished arranging the featherbed and began putting on the sheets, etc. so that I could finish the task. She stayed right in that spot until I had even the comforter over her. She is one wacky cat!

Adventures with Cliff and Ellie

Cliff and I decided to take some time out of our lives for a little outdoor fun. After watching countless episodes of Georgia Outdoors and Georgia Traveler highlighting our destination, we made our way up to Northwest Georgia to Cloudland Canyon State Park. Who ever knew Georgia had canyons?!

This huge canyon started life being carved out by a creek, which winds its way along the bottom. Wind, rain, and other forces also made contributions to carving out these walls. It's amazing how a little bit of water can make such a big impact over time. Being out there reminded me how the big things in life are often accomplished in small steps. We are not who God envisions us to be overnight, but only after His prodding and guidance can we look back and understand the vast work that has been accomplished.

Unfortunately for my metaphor, I don't have this marvelous picture of the creek running through the bottom of the canyon. Due to Georgia's extreme drought, the creek and accompanying waterfalls were dry. Plus, it would be too depressing to post a picture of a dry waterfall anyhow. That just looks sad.

Although our hike to the falls was not the high point of our day, we did hike the Western Rim Loop trail which follows the perimeter of the canyon and provides views from every angle. During the fall, we hope to return so that we can see the canyon draped in color.

In addition, we discovered the park is relatively close to Chattanooga, so we may consider incorporating some of those activities into our next trip up to the canyon.

As an aside, several days ago we also found a very cool nature center heading toward Macon. It's called Dauset Nature Center and has tons of trails, gardens, and animals. If you have kids, it is definitely a place able to be enjoyed by the whole family. Plus, it's free! (They suggest a donation, though.)

Welcome Back Cliff!

Last Wednesday evening, I was very pleased to find an exhausted Cliff at the airport waiting to go home. I intended to post pics of our reunion at the airport, but I don't think he would appreciate it if I posted pics of him with half-opened, bloodshot eyes. He had been traveling for over 24 hours straight as he departed Singapore, changed planes in Shanghai, and then flew directly home to Atlanta. The crazy part of it all was that all of his travel technically occurred in less than one day due to crossing over the international dateline. He left Singapore on Wednesday morning and got back to Atlanta Wednesday evening!

Instead of celebrating his homecoming on Wednesday, we celebrated it Friday night with a freshly baked coconut cake. Yum yum! I felt like I had to redeem myself from the cake I made for his birthday, which fell apart when I transferred it from the pan to the wire rack to cool. Although cumbly, it still tasted fabulous!

Here we are with happy faces and full stomachs after dinner and digging into that cake.

Happy Birthday Stacey!

My long time friend, Stacey, celebrated her birthday over the Independence Day holiday, so we had a girls' night out at Maggiano's in Buckhead to mark the occasion. From left to right, the pic shows Stacey, myself, and our friend Jossi. Jossi was home visiting her family for the holiday. Normally she lives in northern Mississippi outside of Memphis, TN.

Happy Fourth of July!

As many other Atlantans do on the Fourth of July, I drag myself out of bed before the sun rises to make my way down to Lenox Square for the start of the Peachtree Road Race. This is my 8th Peachtree (a little tradition I have for myself), and every year I have so much fun running down Peachtree past the different neighborhoods and shopping centers. The energy from the cheering crowds and the blarring music from the various bands along the route make the 6.2 mile journey go by all too quickly. The above is a pic of my group (Group 7) as we line up for the start at Lenox. The American flag is a signal for the start line. Run Ellie run!

Just a glimpse of your 55,000 closest friends as they work their way down Peachtree. This shot was taken after crossing over the I-85 bridge running toward the Woodruff Arts Center and Midtown, which is between miles four and five. Thanks Stace for getting this pic for me!

The happy runner after the finish toting the all important Peachtree Road Race T-shirt bag! Normally Cliff would be my sidekick in this picture, but he was on a business trip to Asia during this time. :( My friend Stacey came with me to cheer me on at the finish line. Then, it was back to the house for some well-deserved hot dogs, baked beans, and mac-n-cheese!

Farewell to UGA VI

For those of you who do not follow the news concerning the Bulldog Nation, we recently lost our beloved mascot UGA VI. This lovable pup was the one who watched over the football games Cliff and I attended while at the University of Georgia. An English bulldog, he lived nearly 10 years, which is amazing for his breed. Known as the number one mascot in college sports, he was buried on the grounds at Sanford Stadium yesterday. UGA VI, you will be greatly missed!

In the Beginning...

After about 11 months of toying with the idea of actually creating a blog, I decided to take the plunge. A lot has happened over the past year, and I regret not getting started sooner. But, there is no time like the present, so let me catch you up to speed. In August 2007, Cliff (the guy in the pic with me) and I FINALLY got married after 5 years of dating. Upon returning from our honeymoon in Key West (where the above pics were taken), we immediately started a renovation on our home. Consequently, we purchased the house I grew up in from my mother, and we started the process of undoing 20 years of neglect and wear on the house. Being true to my attempt at morphing into Wonder Woman, I also juggled full-time work and graduate school at this time as well.

At the start of our marriage, I had two semesters of grad school left, which presented several challenges to us newlyweds. Trying to figure out time-management among a job, school work, renovations, time together, and the activities of daily living was stressful at times. Luckily that era was short-lived, and now I am a graduate of Georgia State's Robinson College of Business with my Master's of Science degree. Since my schedule has opened up quite a bit since graduation, I discovered my urge to begin writing again was very strong. (For those of you who don't know, I was quite a little journalist several years back.)

I chose the name "Building Up Burton" for our blog because, to me, no other name seemed fitting. Cliff and I are building many things in our lives right now, such as our new marriage and our new (yet old) house. Cliff builds neighborhoods and houses while I help build retirement nest eggs. I just could not ignore the obvious. So I hope that you enjoy our blog. I know this post was a little short, but there will be more soon.