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.