back to college

I loved college. The freedom, friends, fun and of courses the classes (sure, sure.) One of the fun things about about Clemson University was Tigeroar, the men's a cappella group. I can hear the sighs and jeers already....but trust me, these guys were great. Take a look at some of their work:

ahhhh, the good 'ole days
makes me want to go and see them in concert

in the spirit

How does your family get in the spirit of Thanksgiving? Do you make a list of all the things you're thankful for? Bake some of your famous side dishes? Hit the mall in the wee hours of the morning?

Or maybe you're like my friend Donald and you film a commercial. He's the one in the red body paint with "Go" on his chest. Promise he's normal y'all.

See, look how cute he and his sweet wife Laura are! I'm definitely thankful for my friends!!

are you prepared?

are you prepared for black friday shopping. time for a few last minute exercises:

still.so.tired.

I'm about to go home and take a nap, because I went to the Harry Potter premier last night with my YL girls. I got to the theater around 10:45pm and the show started at 12midnight. Yeah.....I'm usually in bed by 10:45pm. I knew it was going to be an interesting night, but seriously folks, how many times do I need to remind myself that I can't keep up with college kids anymore???

My GWU girls are great and I had so much fun with them. I made little premier bags for the girls, complete with homemade popcorn, candy and wands. The night was a big hit!

Aaaaaand, now home for a nap!

mrs thrifty

I've been trying, over the course of the last year, to reinvent my style. Previously, I had rocked the whole preppy-but-plain 1990s JCrew look. You know, pink chinos and a white boatneck tshirt. Then I got married, gained a bunch of weight, and had to rock the whole get-my-fat-butt-to-the-gym-so-all-i-wear-are-workout-clothes look. After my weight loss (I'm a proud WW girl) my friends Lindsey Lee and Chelsea had a wee bit of a fashion intervention with me (picture What Not To Wear only not so mean.)

The outcome was fantastic. The two girls purged about 1/2 my clothes, reminding me why they didn't work for my body or new style, filled in the holes is my now bare wardrobe and made a photo book of all the ways I could wear my new items. I felt like a combination of style-moron and celebrity.

And now I'm pregnant. And slowly working my way out of my cute clothes. I want to maintain my new style, but I'm not sure how to work it with the whole quickly-expanding-waistline thing. Every time I've gone shopping this fall (ok, all 2 times) I just seem stuck......well, I can't buy that because it'll only fit for like a minute, and I can't even think about buying this because even though I love it I won't be able to wear it for the next 9 months.

And yesterday it hit me: SHOES. I can keep my style though my pregnancy with cute shoes. I'm gonna rock the whole leggings and tunic top/dress/long shirt thing for as long as I can, and fabulous boots are going to be a necessity. I'm happy to say that my boots from http://www.gojane.com/ are still holding up:

The brown beauties go with just about everything I own and they fit perfectly with my whole attempt to capture the feminine-twist-on-boho look. But I've been on the hunt for some black boots too. I've scoured countless department stores, Ross, TJ Maxx and have been so disappointed.....not so much with the selection, but about finding a boot that I'd love but not cry over the pricetag.

And then I found them:

Zaney, by Steve Madden $89

I was trying desperately to stay under my self-imposed $50 budget, but was having such a hard time. I knew I could find a pair of boot as great as my brown ones if I just looked hard enough (those boots were only $35 including tax and shipping!)

Just as I was starting to justify the $89 price tag, I found the boots at DSW for $59.95! I quickly added them to my online cart and was about to enter my credit card info, when it hit me: internet discount codes! I did a quick search for "dsw coupons" and found a free shipping code and a 30% off code! The grand total for my boots ended up being $45.22!

I think I'll take myself out for a latte to celebrate being under my $50 limit! But, if I make some coffee at home, maybe I can find a fabulous scarf with that remaining $4.78.........

josh's knee update

We met with Josh's doctor last Friday and found out that yes, Josh's ACL is indeed torn. Here's what his knee looks like (although this isn't his actual MRI)

Fortunately, the damage to the rest of his knee was minimal and wouldn't require any additional treatment. However, what will require some additional treatment is the shorts that they asked Josh to wear for the Xrays they took of his knee:

looking so sassy, my dear.

We've got a slammed packed schedule for the next couple of weeks, so we've got his surgery scheduled for the beginning of December. Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers!

sounds good to me

step 1) watch this video:

step 2) go here to order the album

sounds like a good idea to me

Bionic Man

Oh how I love my sweet husband Josh. He loves Jesus and is so funny, kind, generous, handsome, athletic, talented....I could go on and on.

Oh, and he's also nearly bionic. He's broken 21 bones and currently has a titanium rod in his right leg. And now we get to add a new ACL to the mix. That's right, Josh tore the ACL in his left knee on Tuesday while at Young Life. Its a little fuzzy on the details, but I heard it might involve jumping over a couch. (This is why you don't jump on the furniture kids.)

We spent most of the day Wednesday at my dad's office. He was able to diagnose Josh pretty quickly and the MRI confirmed that the ACL was indeed torn. The radiologist and sports medicine specialist will take a look at the MRI and hopefully we'll have an idea of how to proceed soon.

Josh called me on the way home from Young Life on Tuesday to fill me in on the injury. I met him at the garage to help him bring things in from his car. I wasn't prepared to see this:

apparently it was an 80s theme Young Life club
we're pretty sure that the tightness of the jeans helped prevent further injury to his knee
your thoughts?

holiday decor

We barely made it to Halloween on time this year. Let me set the scene: I'd just run a half-marathon and we attempted to register for baby stuff. I was exhausted and completely overwhelmed at how much stuff babies seem to require. We arrived home to see children trick-or-treating when it finally hit us: we'd forgotten Halloween.

I mean, its not like we're purposely avoiding the holiday all-together. It just doesn't really sit that high on my list of priorities.

So, Josh dropped me off at the house and ran to the grocery store to buy some candy and a pumpkin (no, we hadn't even gotten around to buying a pumpkin!)

We tossed the pumpkin on the front porch and managed to rip open a bag of candy with literally seconds to spare before the hoards surrounded us.

yay for Josh saving the day.

i'm not exactly sure how "ornamental strawberries" fit into Halloween decor?
suggestions?
and yes, this is all still sitting on our front porch
with the tags still on
now that's how you spell classy, folks.

baby girl jones

That's right friends, we're having a little girl!!!

"hello!"

We just left our 18 week check-up with a clean bill of health. I'm not sure of the technical terminology, but everything is good and where it should be. Praise the Lord! (I tried to follow what the sonographer was saying and pointing too, but all the grey and black started blending together, kind of like some weird Magic Eye poster.)

Here are some fun pictures from the babe's first photo shoot:

that foot looks like a runner's foot to me!

baby yoga

Thanks so much for sharing in our excitement! We can't wait to meet our little one in April!

why i y

Sometimes I ask myself, "Why the heck am I going to workout INSIDE?"

Then I remind myself that no one offers an outdoor Zumba class. (Although I would sign up in a heartbeat!)

Most days, after I've drug myself to the YMCA after work and survived lifting weights or a group exercise I pat myself on the back. Its kind of the only encouragement I get for attempting to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Unless you count this beauty:

this is totally unedited, straight out of my point and shoot camera
ok, YMCA, i get it
your sunsets are pretty
see you tomorrow

they're done!

We have new floors....or newly finished floors, whatever. All I know is that we have furniture back in the house and the fridge is no longer in the garage. Oh, the simple joys of home ownership!

race rundown

The Spinx Half Marathon was great! The course was beautiful, the weather was chilly and the company was fantastic!

We checked into our hotel in downtown Greenville, SC and went to scout out the race course and pick up my bib and race packet. Both the start and finish were going to be near the Greenville Drive stadium and I was excited to see the layout. On our way to the stadium we heard firetruck sirens. I made some comment about how 5 o'clock traffic was so bad downtown that people better hope they never need an ambulance or firetruck because it would take forever to get there. After a quick laugh we were promptly boxed in by four firetrucks:

I did not take this as a good omen for the race.

We met my college roommate Maury and her husband John for dinner. I don't have a picture to document how I proceeded to eat my way through downtown Greenville on Saturday night, but that was because I was too busy giggling with Maury and, well, eating.

We got up bright and early, although I guess it should be called dark and early since the sun didn't actually make an appearance for much later. I loved being able to stay downtown, it was such a treat to be able to grab breakfast on the way to the start line that was only 1 mile away!

We arrived at the stadium where I made Josh take a mini photo shoot. He was a great sport.

This is the babe's second half-marathon.
I'm so proud of our little one.

The course was perfect. A few rolling hills, a few steep hills and 6ish miles next to the river. I got to see parts of Greenville that I'd never visited before and got to run through some of my favorite parts too. Its so cool to be able to run through a big city and not have to worry about traffic!

While I really enjoyed the course and weather, it was a tough race. I was able to run 10 miles without much pain, but my left knee really started to hurt miles 10-13. I had to put my pride in the back seat and start a combination of running and walking to the finish line. It was hard to think I wouldn't even be able to make a 2 hr 30 min goal pace (which is slow folks.) I reminded myself that this race wasn't about me or a time or what other people thought....it was about spending time in what the Lord has created for us, doing what the Lord has given us to enjoy with the people the Lord has blessed us with. So I settled in, talked to the babe, sang some songs (out loud....sorry to those people around me at mile 11, it was kind of tragic) and enjoyed myself.

I made some friends on those last few miles, those run/walkers are super encouraging. I was able to give Josh a big smile on mile 13:

I kind of felt like Ricky Bobby in this picture
"I don't know what to do with my hands"

BY FAR, the coolest part of the race was mile 13.1. We entered the Greenville Drive stadium and got to run on the warning track and finish on home plate!

I seriously considered sliding into home plate.
But then I thought about how I didn't really know how to slide.
And what if I ended up like three feet short of the plate or something?

Josh, my sweet husband and sag extraordinaire, took me out for brunch after the race. He is so good to me!

I'm not sure what the next six months of running will look like for me. I have a few 5ks lined up that I'd like to do, but I'm not sure if I've got another half marathon in me. I love the excitement, training and camaraderie, but it was tough this time! So, for now, I've entered into my post-race-season-recovery-plan. It envolves some strength training, Zumba, Yoga, light runs and speed work. But friends, if you've got a fun race planned, please let me know!!