Summer is Gone!

Well,  school has started up again and I'm not all that happy about it!  I like to hang out with my beautiful daughter!  We have lots of fun together and now I am just lonely!  Not really but I do miss her like crazy!  Here is her first day picture from this past Friday.

This is an annual event and when she graduates she will have a photo, like this, from every first day!  My favorite question is the last one!  Last year she wanted to be a rockstar drummer but this year I can tell my actions are influencing her!

I am a St. Jude runner and have been for two years now!  I get to hang with 50 plus runners and crew for 2 days as we run 140 miles from Mattoon, Illinois to Peoria, Illinois!  

We raise money for the honor to run!  All the money goes to St. Jude to help kids fight cancer.  It is an amazing journey that is life changing!  Each runner has to raise a minimum of $750 this year I raised almost $1700!  The best part is knowing that it will help a child and NO ONE ever gets billed for treatment!  This year team Mattoon raised.......,,

By the time we reached Peoria, it was closer to $87,000 thanks to donations made by people we passed on our journey!  It is amazing and very humbling to be part of this team!  I even got to run with my fellow YMCA coworkers!  Look at this crew!

This year my ZTA Sorority sister, Natalie, joined her town to run to Peoria also!  I found her when we got to Peoria!  Another sister, Jill, came to watch both of our teams run into town!  I love these ladies!!

I am already excited for next year because I know we can raise more money than this year!  Until there is a cure........we will run!

Happy Runniversary to Me!

Three years ago, today, I laced up my shoes and set out to complete Couch to 5k and lose some weight!  I had already changed my eating habits the prior month and now it was time to get serious about my fitness, or lack there of!  That first day about killed me!  I was way out of shape!  Run, walk, run, walk, run, walk..,,you get the picture!  The next day I hurt but I laced up and did it again!  I did the walk/run until July 13 when our new shelter dog took me out at the knee!  ACL reconstruction soon followed as did recovery and my return to running!

Fast forward 3 years to today!  I have lost 60 pounds, completed numerous 5 Ks, ran from Mattoon to Peoria (140 miles) in a relay type run to benefit St. Jude and completed my first 1/2 Marathon!  I am also a coach for Girls on the Run, teach Bootcamp three times a week and will begin teaching swimming lessons and a Homeschool PE program in the fall!  Has running changed me?  Heck yeah!  It has made me stronger physically and mentally!  It has made me grateful for all the wonderful people it has brought into my life and it has made me inspired to inspire others in any way possible!  Am I fast?  Nope, but I am determined to better myself each time I pound the pavement!  For better or worse, I AM A RUNNER!  Wow!  Someone call Coach Stiff!  She will never believe it!

     Before running    @     after running!

My Shabby Chic Ladder

I finally got to finish my project with a little bit of help from my family!  The Diva loves to paint so color washing barn wood was  no problem for her!

 

We were going to build bird houses but I found these for $3 a piece and figured that it would be better to buy them than nag my husband to help me with the building process!

So here is the final project and all my husband had to do was cut two boards!

I love it!!  So what projects are you working on?  My next project is to color wash my porch swing!  Happy DIY weekend!