Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Climbing Mountains and Saying Goodbye... again.

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If you are a faithful follower and/or commenter, please except these flowers as a token of the gratitude I feel that you are still here and reading even though I have been MIA for longer than normal. A lot has gone down this week and I have been too overwhelmed to write anything lately. I'll start off on a very light note and show you some of our beautiful, "deserty" hikes we've been on.

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Katie {on my right in the picture below} has become one of my new friends while I've been out here and she took me on a beautiful hike with two of her good friends.

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I always look forward to meeting other girls especially now that I'm all alone out here with a bunch of boys {more on that later}. Even though our hike was days ago, my achilles are still reminding me about it. Needless to say, it was a legit workout.

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Speaking of working out, I have signed up to compete in a Half-Ironman in October.  This race will consist of a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike, and a 13.1 mile run. You can call me crazy, it's ok. I, of all people, totally understand. I mainly understand because completing my workouts every morning and still having enough stamina and energy to take on the rest of the day is very tough somedays. I have always hated napping, but now I've come to rely on them. I've decided that though this will be a major feat {the training and the race}, I have absolutely no excuse not to challenge myself. At this time in my life, I have all the time in the world to train- no "real" job, no babies, no excuses. If I can complete triathlons, half marathons, and a marathon, I can at least attempt to complete this. My Dad, Jessica, and my bff Courtney are also training for it and we've all decided we're gonna "do it or die trying".  Now that I've told all you blog-stalkers, I really can't back out now!

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In other news, we've been celebrating and saying goodbye around here... Celebrating our friendship and special memories with Brad and Emily and also telling them goodbye. After many years of baseball, both successful and injury-filled, Brad has decided to move on with life and "be normal" as we all call it. It's been a very bittersweet time for all of us... We're so thankful for their friendship and we are so proud of Brad.

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I really don't know what Aaron would've done without Brad this past year. Rehabbing from injury/surgery is one of the most mentally taxing parts of this baseball life and God knew they would need each other. God also knows that it is just as mentally taxing on their other half as well and He gave me Emily.

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... and how could I forget Belle? {or Bellie Minelli as I call her}

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Since they've left, I find myself opening the door and automatically looking to the left where she's always standing on the ottoman to greet me. Every time I walk out of my room, I find myself glancing over at her little spot on the couch to see if she's sleeping or rummaging through the garbage or on top of the kitchen counters. Even though there wasn't a "person" with me in the mornings, I wasn't alone. I will miss my little lady.

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So this is life... change is not easy, but it's always happening. But I am confident that "...all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose." {Romans 8:28} All I can say is how thankful I am for the friendship and the memories we have made.  

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Emily's dad put it best in his text message to Brad the day he called it quits... He said, "Welcome to the rest of your life." And that just really struck a chord with me... The end of this "life as we know it" is also the beginning of something so different and "normal" but great.


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I am so excited for Brad and Emily's new beginning and I know we will be lifelong friends.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Red Rocks

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Hey, it's me again!

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This weekend we made a little trip out to Sedona, Arizona to see the red rocks {or cliffs I should say}.

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It was the four of us...

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and the little lady came too.

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{and as usual, she refused to look at the camera... little stinker!}

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The little town of Sedona was charming in a "wild west" kind of way and with a back drop like this, you can't help but feel in the spirit!

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We ate some good ole' southwestern cuisine...

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...at this delicious Mexican restaurant.

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We had ourselves a good time!

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The next morning we woke up early and went on a "Pink Jeep Tour."

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I've got to say, if you want to combine spectacular sightseeing, a wild ride, and two full hours of entertainment... this is the way to go!

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But hang on tight because it really is a wild ride!

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You can't really tell by the picture but we are at 50 degrees going down this rock.

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The places we stopped along the way were wide open, expansive, and red... very red.

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But we were pleasantly surprised to see lots of green!

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It was a short and sweet little weekend outing and fun was had by ALL!

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Thursday, May 19, 2011

Easy as 1-2-3-{4}

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Now this is one of many "fruit" salads that my Grandmomma makes and you will likely see this recipe or a slight variation in any southern church cookbook, Sunday potluck, or southern lady's home buffet line. It's one of those "salads" you should eat for dessert but you actually put it on your plate with the rest of your fried chicken, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, squash casserole, biscuits... well you get the picture... does this type of meal sound familiar to any of you? I sure bet it does if you're a southerner!

This "Marshmallow Fruit Salad"- as I call it- has 4 simple ingredients and 2 steps:

Mix together: 1 bag of mini marshmallows, 2 cans of mandarin oranges {drain just one of them}, 1 small can of crushed pineapple, and about 6-7 oz of sour cream. After the ingredients are well mixed, place in the refrigerator for several hours and the marshmallows will puff up with all the juice!

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Y'all, it is so delicious that I eat myself a side of it at every meal, and sometimes I just eat right out of the bowl! I encourage you to try this recipe asap because it's too easy and cheap not too... It's the perfect combination of sweet and tart! Make it today!

Monday, May 16, 2011

Flying by the Seat of Our Pants

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This past week I was reunited with one of my closest friends, Jane Gray {it's a double name}, in San Diego, California.

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The title of this post describes the approach we took at exploring her new stomping grounds. She and her husband Allan {also a close friend} moved to Escondido last year and will be living there for at least three more years until he is finished with seminary.

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Before I entered into this baseball life, I preferred structure and boundaries... now that I've been "flying by the seat of my pants" for a few years now, I rather enjoy it... and I think it rubbed off on Jane Gray a little bit this week.

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After two attempts at booking flights and then having to cancel because of unpredictable circumstances, the second one happened to be at the right time and I was able to fly from Scottsdale. We realized we had not seen each other in over a year... which didn't even feel right because of all the phone calls, facebook, and blogging of course.

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San Diego was absolutely beautiful... I think because of where I'm from, anywhere coastal has a positive affect on me. But there were mountains too, so of course, I was in heaven.

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We frequented the beach, hiked a beautiful trail, toured wineries, ran by the ocean and also in a 5k race, shopped 'till we dropped, ate amazing food, and explored just about everywhere within a 40 mile radius of San Diego. We were on vacation and we did whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted... life was good.

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I'm going to divide this post into specific sections in attempts to tell about our vacay as simply as possible... because remember- we were all over the map this week. {That's what happens when you... {read the title}.

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About the beaches...

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They were much different from our white sandy beaches on the Gulf Coast... and I expected that. This 'aint my first rodeo in Southern California.

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The sand was dark and the coast was rocky and mountainous... a beautiful backdrop for the dark blue water.

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There were surfer dudes {and dudettes} everywhere and the water was so cold they had to wear wet suits.

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You may also notice the cloudy day... Unfortunately I came during "May Gray" but the sun shone on us more than the clouds did. Clouds were actually kind of nice... something I haven't seen at all in the desert I've been living in.

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The first day I arrived we took a little trip over to Coronado Island to a famous hotel on the beach.

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Maybe I should call it a resort.

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We toured the grounds, grabbed Starbucks, and window shopped.

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Now about our hike...

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This trail and beautiful view was only ten minutes from their apartment.

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I took a lot of pictures... and Jane did too with her camera phone. {I don't normally pose like this when I take pictures... I think Jane just has this kind of effect on me} ;)

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It was a great workout with some stunning views... you just can't beat that combination in my opinion.

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The flowers were one of the highlights to me, of course.

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Speaking of flowers, let's talk about the wineries...

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I love touring wineries and my favorite thing about them is their flowers... and I may be the only person on the planet that thinks that way. I'm ok with that.

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These were my favorites... How did you know?

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Now onto the shopping...

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We went to a huge mall with lots of nice stores, but our favorite place was this thrift store... notice the brand and price of these jeans... UNBELIEVABLE.

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There were also no dressing rooms, obviously, so we improvised. You gotta do what you gotta do.

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Now onto the food portion of the week...

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One night we decided to lose the swimsuits, get dressed up and go downtown.

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We ate at this charming Italian ristorante...

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The food and the wine were divine... {Can you tell I love to rhyme...?}

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On the first day I arrived, Jane took me to lunch at a charming little cafe in Del Mar. It was lovely!

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Since I'm talking so much about food, I'll move onto our beautiful scenic runs.

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We were casually running along the road near the beach {on Hwy 101} and looked to our right and then down...

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It was breathtaking! {A photo does not do it justice}

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You talk about a good distraction... It's amazing how hard I've been having to push myself on my runs and then on that day, it was a breeze... literally.

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On Saturday, we ran a 5k through the San Diego zoo for the hospital she works at... It was benefitting liver transplant patients.  The animals didn't know what to think when all those people came running through!

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I also want to show y'all their cute little home...

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It is tiny and cozy apartment with a "homey" southern feel... and adorned with fresh flowers of course.

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Sure, visiting San Diego and seeing all there was to see made up several highlights of my week there, but spending quality time with two of my closest friends was more special than anything we "did".

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What's between these pictures is long talks over coffee, slumber parties in the living room, trying not to wet our pants over college pictures and videos we found... a lot of things that a photograph really can't show.

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But I know you can take one look at these pictures and see how much fun we had together... We took the "go with the flow" approach to life this week and discovered how much you can do when you don't make plans and just fly by the seat of your pants.

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It was the trip of a lifetime and about as "blog-worthy" as it gets! 

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