Spring Cleaning

So, unlike the many people who are tired of the pollen problem in Atlanta, I was one of the few not thrilled about a rainy, dark day. Especially after just getting back from glorious, sun-shine-filled, 80-degree Miami. However, inspired partly by the weather and partly by the book I am currently reading (The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin), I decided to do a little spring cleaning. In her book, Rubin first tackles her own closet in order to bring chaos and order to her life. I chose the same approach. I spent some time at Target picking out some new storage supplies (inspired by the cubes I saw in Emily's closet) and then I came home to tackle the monster task.

My before pictures:





Now, I should be very embarrassed to post those pictures. However -- I am just so proud of the way it looks after and the effort it took that I am willing to let you see just how bad it was. First, I had to get rid of all those clothes that I don't wear -- which is just about half of what was in my closet. Whether they are no longer in style, they no longer fit (thank you, post-college weight gain) or I just don't like them anymore, they had to go! This in itself did wonders. Then I had to put together my new stoarage unit:






Finally, after throwing away lots of JUNK, THIS is my beautiful new closet!!




It is amazing what a high you get just from something so simple as opening your closet and it being completely in order. I liked it so much, I moved on to the hallway and linen closets.. but I won't bore anyone with all of that. Tonight I am attempting my first try at homemade spaghetti sauce -- I'll keep you posted!!

ING! ((Long overdue...))

So this post should have happened two weeks ago, but I have been a very bad blogger lately! However -- better late than never, right? I vow to post at least once a week from this point on!

As far as the half-marathon goes -- it was amazing! I don't believe I have ever felt so proud of myself. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have not been able to train as much as I wanted because I was trying to heal my foot. That fact, plus never training on the road or with hills, had me very nervous when I woke up that morning. The longest run I did, my 10 mile run, I ran at a 14:00 pace. So, when anyone asked me how long I thought it would take me to complete the race, my goal was 3 hours. This would mean I would have to keep up that 14:00 pace, counting in the fact that I would be going up hills and dealing with my foot injury.

Luckiy, my foot did not begin to bother me until about mile 11. Actually, I felt great --well, not really great. For me, it's hard to feel great while I am running. But I felt as great as I possibly can while running!-- but I felt my version of great for the majority of the race, until the last 2.1 miles. At that point, I was ready to quit. In fact, I cried at least twice on the course; I was so ready to be done and willing to quit if it meant that my foot would stop hurting.

I was beyond proud of Katie. Although she had never run further than 4 miles at once and never run more than 2 miles without stopping, she kept pace with Zach and I for 7.5 miles!! I could not have been more impressed by her determination. Even though we split up at that 7.5 mark, she still kept up with us and finished only 8 minutes behind me!

Speaking of time -- this is the proudeset part of this post!! As I said, my goal was to finish in 3 hours. I would have been very content and very proud with that time. I just wanted to finish!! Instead, I have to say that I dominated my time goals. I finished my first half-marathon in 2 hours and 38 minutes!!! All in all, I averaged just over a 12:00 pace -- 2 minutes per mile faster than how I trained! What an amazing feeling of accomplishment. I am already trying to decide which race I will do next -- it seems I may have caught the running bug!!

Here are a few pictures from the race:

I am Woman...

Hear Me Roar!!


It is now T-minus 25 days until the ING Half-Marathon. When I tell you I am excited, I mean that I am EXCITED. First, I am excited that it is almost here. Second, I am excited that I am EXCITED! I never thought I would be excited about a race. I never thought I would begin to enjoy running. Now, I am not sure I am at the point of enjoying running, per se, however I am enjoying the accomplished feeling I get after running.

Sunday, I ran 10 miles. Did you hear me?? TEN MILES! If you aren't sure, let me spell it out for you what an accomplishment this is for me. . .

Up until this point, I have never run further than six miles, without stopping to walk, stopping to make excuses, stopping just to stop.

Up until this point, I have never even stayed on a treadmill for 2 hours -- and I was on it for 2 hours + 20 minutes.

Up until this point, I wouldn't have even attempted this run. Not even in my dreams.

Up until this point, I would have been huffing and puffing and hurting by mile 4.

But instead, at mile 4 I felt great.
At mile 5, all I could think was -- I'm really okay right now!
At mile 6, I thought -- Every step I take after this is a step further than I have ever run.
At mile 7, I thought -- I am really going to be able to do this.
At mile 8, I was really wishing it was mile 10..
At mile 9, all I could think was only fourteen more minutes!!

And at mile 10, I couldn't even tell you what all I was thinking. I thought - I have never been prouder of myself in my life. I thought - I have never done something this athletic in my life. I thought - Zach really needs to get me some water now!

Most importantly, the thought that kept running (pun intended) through my head was -- I am really going to be able to do this Half Marathon. If I can run 10 miles, certainly I can run another 3.1 afterwards. I have 3.5 more weeks of training, and then I plan on tackling one of my biggest mountains. Zach says that ever since my run on Sunday I have caught the fever. It may be true. I have been looking at other races to sign up for.

I wish I could really put in words how I am feeling about myself right now -- all I know is it's an amazing feeling.

**in other news, crazy things are happening at my school... but I'm not in the mood to talk about that right now. That will be my next post...**

Happy Love Day!

It has been quite a while since I have posted. I have resolved to do better over the coming months. I am fortunate enough that so many amazing things are going on in my life, and I want to keep track of everything. This Valentine's Day, I am focusing on not just the romantic love in my life, but all of the love. I am blessed with amazing family and amazing friends, who keep me going through the tough times. From old Auburn friends to new Atlanta friends, Zach and I have a great group of friends. I feel blessed that we have had such a difficult time choosing our wedding party, because it shows just how many important people we have in our lives.

As far as romantic love, Zachary and I celebrated Valentine's Day at home this year, choosing to make our own Surf and Turf feast! We have so much fun cooking together, and we make quite the duo in the kitchen. Zach was responsible for the "turf" and I took charge of the "surf." All in all, it was a delicious meal and we wouldn't have been able to get anything better at a fancy restaurant. Here are some pictures of our dinner :

Zachary working his magic in the kitchen (and thrilled that I was taking his picture!!)

The shrimp that I steamed in a mixture of Corona, butter and Cajun seasoning ((MMM!!))

The amazing filets he cooked!

(yes, I know I was cheesy with the table setting -- you wouldn't expect anything less!)

the GIANT chocolate-covered strawberries we bought from Kroger!

We ate like royalty and then couldn't move afterwards! Hope everyone enjoy's Valentine's Day and all the loooooooooooove in their life!!

New Semester

So today officially started our second semester of the school year. The school is utter chaos -- not only the nonsense of students who have been gone for two weeks. But our school is also beginning renovations, so every teacher has a new room, half of which arent ready. IE: Chaos. Oh. Add to that situation that my two main co-teachers are not here this week. Lets just say, I'm praying for a snow day =)

However, my two lessons today when fairly okay. In English we talked about plot and used Cinderella and in math we took a diagnostic test and then reviewed the basic principles of probability. So I'm hoping with a new/better attitude things will only get easier..

As far as the wedding goes -- we found a reception site!!!! We will be celebrating at the Matt Jones Gallery. I am so excited. Zach was such an amazingly-great fiance and spent an entire day with us before New Years and it was so great having him there. Its hard to make these big decisions without him there -- and I could hear the whole conversation when I said "hey, its going to be at an art gallery!" But since he was there in person he got to see it all -- and it was his favorite place, too! Perfect! It was also great to see him learning that I really wasn't exaggerating when I talked about all of the money things -- goodness its overwhelming!

This weekend we will be traveling with the Olsens to Birmingham so they can finally meet my dad. We will also be checking out rehearsal dinner sites, hotels, showing them the church and the gallery aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand getting my dress!!! Kristi, Mom and I went to Jasper on New Years and this store was great. I found three dresses that I absolutely LOVED, so we are going back this weekend with Mrs. Olsen so that I can make my final decision. AH! I'm so excited. It is so fun having all of this to think about/distract me when things are tough. Although over the break it got a little bit overwhelming (because I'm out of town, when I get to Birmingham we have to do lots and lots so it can be exhausting/overwhelming/etc.), we made lots of decisions and got a lot done -- and it was so fun! We also have some Bridal Shows coming up, so the excitement will continue.

As far as the half marathon, things are coming along swimmingly =) On Sunday, I ran four miles straight for only the second time in my life. Yesterday, I ran three miles at a faster pace then I would have imagined I could do already. It is exciting to feel myself getting into better shape -- even though I have yet to SEE the fruits of my labor.

I'm not sure how exciting this post was... oh well. Not many read it, anyway =) Love those of you who do, though!

God is great and life is good!

So, we made it through our first dual-family Christmas! It was crazy, hectic, busy, exhausting, and every other synonym -- but I wouldn't have changed one minute of it! I loved being able to share my favorite time of the year with Zach. I loved that he was able to be with all of my family and that I was able to show him off!! I also really enjoyed being included in his family's events. I also still love being introduced as "fiance" =) It was a somewhat mind-boggling moment when his sister reminded us that by next Christmas, we would be married. I am so excited and in such awe at the amazing things that are happening in my life right now.

This time off from school has been so refreshing. I am glad to have another whole week before I need to return to work. I am still hoping that this time off will rejuvenate my soul and my spirit so that I can come back to work with the same sense of purpose that I began this school year with. I am also hoping that with the help of my TFA boss, I will be able to change some of my mentalities so that I can take value in "small wins" and appreciate the small changes that I am making, instead of purely focusing on the overwhelming mountain that I am attempting to climb in such a short period of time.

Speaking of climbing a huge mountain -- I have taken on another personal mountain to climb. On March 21, 2010 I will attempt my first half marathon. Today is my first official day of training. Yesterday, Coach Olsen took me to the track for a time trial. He needed to see where I was starting in order to create a personal training plan for me. For my future reference -- I completed a mile in 9:36. I am hoping that by the time I complete my half marathon, I will be able to laugh at that time -- because yesterday I was somewhat embarrassed at the shape I am in. Well, you have to start somewhere! And I guess the worse you are, the better you can get, right?! I am excited about this new challenge.. and I DO mean CHALLENGE. I'll keep you posted!!

A whirlwind...

These past six weeks have been a complete whirlwind, which is why it has been so long since my last update! My apologies!!

The biggest news since my last update?? I got engaged, of course! I could not be happier, and was beyond surprised when it happened.

In the last few weeks, we have also attended my sister Kristi's debutante ball (always an interesting experience), attended Zach's company Christmas party, shopped for a new ring, hosted our first potluck dinner, I completed my first semester as a high school teacher (BIG accomplishment -- I can barely believe I made it), and now we have begun making wedding plans.

The plans are limited so far. I have come home to Birmingham and Mom, Kristi and I spent yesterday exploring two reception sites, as well as making a trip to our first bridal salon! I couldn't believe I was actually trying on wedding dresses. The both of them teared up when they put a veil on my head. I was mostly just in shock still. There were a few dresses there I really loved, but I wanted to give myself plenty of time to look and think about. This is, of course, the time in my life I have been dreaming about for years, so I see no reason to rush it!!

Zach is on his way to Birmingham this morning. This will be our first time ever trying to split up Christmas (and other holidays). It will be interesting trying to see everyone and be everywhere that we are supposed to be, but I hope family will be understanding. I am just loving every minute of our life right now. It is so exciting that to think in just barely any time I will be his wife.

This is all I have for now - I probably could have written more but I am out of blogging-shape! I vow to update more often though!!