SheMoves Atlanta 5k 2013

Last year I had a great time running the SheMoves 5k, so I decided to give it another go this year.  The race takes place about 7 miles from my house, and it is in the park where Austin works--very convenient!  I knew that a PR wasn't in my future for this race, due to my lack of real training over the past couple of months, but I knew that simply running the race would be fun!

It was a nice, cloudy morning, perfect for a 3.1 mile run with 178 of my lady friends.  I love that feeling at the beginning of the race when everyone is tensed up and ready to go!  The run was nothing hugely amazing; the race route was practically identical to my twice weekly group run route, so I knew what to expect.  I made sure to go out slowly and kept a steady pace for the first two miles.  After that, I took a couple short walking breaks in order to reserve energy for the loooong hill that leads towards the finish line.  There's nothing like a strong finish!  And I cannot deny it: I love "flying" past other folks while running up hills.  That's why you'll see me walking right before the hill, and then letting the dust fly on the nasty uphills. 

My whole family (Austin, Mom, Dad, sisters) were at the finish to cheer me on, which always spurs me on to give it that last little bit.  I told Austin that I was going to finish this race with nothing left in the tank, which I did.  I'm proud of my effort, and although I'd be lying if I said I didn't wish I'd PR'd, I know that I did my best for where I am at right now. 

Finishing strong at 35:29!

Me and my #1 fan.  :]

I am now pondering signing up for my first 10k, the Big Peach Sizzler on September 2nd, and maybe another 5k in September so I can try to PR.  This summer is already full of running and training; I'm excited to see how much I can grow as a runner before school starts back up. 

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P.S.- Last year I posted my race day playlist.  Here is what I ran to this year:

Dance Again- Jennifer Lopez ft. Pitbull (my only repeat song from last year)
Holding My World- Kristian Stanfill
Good Time- Owl City and Carly Rae Jespen
Die Young- Ke$ha
I Believe in a Thing Called Love- The Darkness
On Top of the World- Imagine Dragons (new favorite song...I timed it to when I'd be feeling tired)
Wavin' Flag (Coca-Cola Celebration Mix)- K'naan
Back in Black- AC/DC
Seven Nation Army- The White Stripes
Magic- B.o.B f. Rivers Cumo (great song to finish with)

Summer!

As my husband so lovingly likes to remind me, yes, it is still technically spring.  BUT to every teacher I know, summer begins the day I walk out those school doors and into two months of freedom.*

My goal is to have a relaxing and fun summer without doing a whole lot of anything.  Austin gave me The Pioneer Woman Cookbook for my birthday, so I am planning to try out many of those recipes and see which ones are easy enough to replicate during the school year.  Other than that, I think our summer will consist of running, reading, and lots and lots of ice cream.  :]  Here's what we've been up to so far.

The face of an excited teacher leaving for the summer.

Lots and lots of ice cream...

Relaxing after the last day of post-planning.  Drinking Diet Coke with my feet propped up.

The proper way to celebrate the successful end of the school year: Starbucks.

First duo run of the summer on Memorial Day.

Super quick (free!) overnight visit to Helen.  So relaxing!

Here's to lots more summer fun with my main man!


*Well, not exactly "freedom."  I do have a week of math training...and an in-service for new teachers...and getting ready for next year.  We will just call it a less stressful busyness.  :]

Our Trip to Chattanooga

Austin and I just got back from a short trip to Chattanooga.  It is so nice to be able to get out and go somewhere once in a while!  We arrived on Sunday and enjoyed a walk all around the city before stopping at Mellow Mushroom for some delicious pizza. 

Waiting for our yummy pizza!

Gorgeous weather the whole time we were there!

On Monday we enjoyed sleeping in (what a concept!!!) and then headed to the Tennessee Aquarium.  One of my favorite things about our hotel is that it was only half a mile from the aquarium, so it was super easy to walk everywhere.  There's just something special about walking hand-in-hand with your husband.  :]

Of course we had to find Nemo.

Crazy lookin' fish.  I had fun imagining what all the fish were saying while we watched them.  #kidatheart

Aww, so cute.  ;]

Not gonna lie: I kinda bullied him into doing the touch tank.  It is quite the unique opportunity!

Austin's favorite part.  My favorites were the otters. 

Date day in the city!  jacket: Old Navy, dress: Target, purse: Target a few years ago, sandals: Tevas

Probably my favorite picture from the whole trip.

After the aquarium we got to enjoy some free Coldstone thanks to Austin's sister!  We'd been holding on to that giftcard since Christmas.  :]

Mine: cheesecake ice cream and fresh strawberries; Austin's: chocolate brownie froyo, coconut, and almonds

Walking around to work off our ice cream.

Next was a stop by the IMAX theater to see "The Last Reef."  It was cool and Austin really enjoyed it, but I think my days of watching 3D movies are over.  I started feeling sick 20 minutes into the film and didn't feel better until we'd been outside for 30 minutes.  Does anyone else get sick watching 3D movies?  Or am I just really strange?  (ok, maybe both, haha)

So once I was feeling a bit more normal, we ate dinner at Mellow Mushroom (again).  I didn't really feel like walking around a lot to find somewhere, so we just went with old faithful.  Austin always pretends to be surprised when I say I love pizza...but really, no surprise there.  Post-dinner fun included walking over some bridges and checking out the art district once again.  See how lame I sound when I say this: art is really cool!

Chattanooga!

Loving the sunshine and each other (cue the "awws").

Probably our favorite statue: Icarus.

Our hotel.

Tuesday morning found my husband on a long run over the aforementioned bridges and me chilling and enjoying the HGTV in our hotel room.  Once he arrived back and we checked out, we drove across the river to have brunch at a place I saw on Yelp, Aretha Frankenstein's.  The place was really cool, and the food made up for the really long wait.

So all in all, we had a fantastic start to our spring break.  I'd say there is nothing better than escaping for a few days to a new-ish place with the one you love.  Now, here's to some more adventures before the week is up!

Instaweek

Here's a peek at my past 10ish days through the filter of Instagram.  Instagram: Making Pictures More Interesting Since 2011 (totally made up).

Starbucks...the official fuel of teachers. 

New desk setup...the calm before the storm. 

We tried a new sandwich place for dinner and we've already been back!  I mean, who wouldn't like ordering on a paper bag?

Easter morning reading.

Beautiful evening in Suwanee.

I didn't feel well enough to run, so I got to watch Biz lead the whole pack of runners!  He's a beast.

Gah, I love this man!

Spring break happy!

Happy spring!  My toes are happy to see the light of day again.  :]

A Saturday in Our House

7:45- Wake up and Biz gets ready to go to the gym.  He brings me coffee in bed and hops out the door (literally...he is a very peppy morning person!).

8:00-9:30- I enjoy coffee in bed while perusing Instagram and pinterest.  Lately I've been loving the hashtag #teacherlife.  It's fun to see what other young teachers are up to. 

9:30- Eat a bowl of Frosted Flakes while waiting for my school laptop to boot up.

9:45-11:30- "Do lesson plans."  (aka- intermittently do lesson plans and surf the web...this time looking for a tutorial to make a magnet board out of an old frame)

11:30- Biz gets home.  Watch him rake up the yard while writing a blog post.

12:00- Looking through our almost empty pantry and fridge to make a yummy lunch.  I'm thinking about putting pizza sauce and mozzerella cheese on Texas toast and calling it a mini-pizza.

1:00-6:00- Time for cleaning and grocery shopping!  Yes, this is a super fun adult life!  ;]

7:00- Easter service at our church.  What a special holiday to celebrate...the reason why we believe what we believe!

And that is a Saturday in our lives.  Nothing too exciting, but hey, it works!  :]

My Thoughts on Being a Wife

• Hanging out with my husband is so much fun.  Watching a movie?  FUN.  Eating pizza?  FUN.  Grocery shopping?  FUN.  Cleaning the house? (kinda) FUN.
  
• It is hard going to work every day and trying to be completely "there."  Most days I'd rather be home supporting my man.  Does that make me a complete anti-feminist?  Nope.  I simply know that I have a calling above teaching, and that is to love and encourage my husband. 
  
• Married people can be lame...like in bed at 8:30 on a Friday night and loving it lame.  #asleepby9pm  #noshame
  
• My husband is not "hubby"...he is "hubsters" (a slightly less weird version of the word, but still kinda weird). 
  
• How great is it to live with my best friend every day!?!  Monotonous things are better with him (like the aforementioned cleaning).
  
• For the first time in my life, I have been making the bed (almost) every day.  It's important to my husband, so it is important to me.
  
• People ask when we're going to have kids...umm, WHAT?  We've been married three months.  I love being a wifey, and "school mom" to 21 littles.  But real mommy?  No thanks.   #schoolmomftw

My Current Frustration

I think that anyone you meet would tell you that I'm a pretty chill person.  Stuff doesn't get under my skin very easily.  But right now in my life I have one major frustration:

government offices. 

My work hours are 8:00AM-4:00PM, Monday through Friday.  Guess when the social security administration office is open?  9:00AM-3:00PM.  And this girl needs to get a new card with her new married name before she can get a new drivers license or do anything else.

Ugh.  This deserves some frustration.

What did you guys do when you got married?  I took four days off for the honeymoon, so I'm not really cool with the idea of taking a half-day, although I think that may be my only option.

Yes, we are all very grumpy.

Yay!

I got my wedding pictures!!!

To say I was excited would be an understatement.  My uncle did the pictures, and the whole time he was showing my the finished product I felt like a grinning idiot.  I'll definitely share lots of them with you guys, but for the time being, here is my favorite of Mr. Biz and me.

Yay!!!  It makes the whole day seem like it really happened!  :]

Christmas Break Happenings

So even though I've been back at work this past week, I'm not quite ready to let go of Christmas break.  It was busy, sometimes stressful, but mainly wonderful.  I like this whole "married at Christmas time" thing.  :]

You gotta have lots of fuel for present wrapping.  And, can I just say, it's depressing every year when Starbucks goes back to the white cups.

One of my favorite views...our front door.

Flowers from the wedding...the baby's breath were the bridesmaid bouquets and the roses were on the buffet table.  I had to throw them out yesterday and it was so sad. 

Love seeing presents under the tree waiting to go to our families!

So happy to have Kelley home for a bit...and yes, all three of us sisters embraced the ugly Christmas sweaters.

Just hanging out with our Christmas tree on Christmas Eve.  :]

I have a fun husband.  This hat was laying around the house, so he found some of my old camp socks and went for a run dressed like this on Christmas morning.  That's awesome.

Presents, coffee, cinnamon rolls, and fun at my parents' house on Christmas morning!

Biz is serious when it comes to home improvement.  Don't mess with this dude while he's hanging curtains and painting bathrooms.

So that was my Christmas break, post-honeymoon.  The honeymoon deserves it's own post to be filled with its' awesomeness.  Now that Christmas is over I'm ready for the "let's get organized" fun of January.  Woo hoo!  It's time to clean!  ;]