Orange is my Signature Color...

...growing up in small town Cape, well it's actually quite large now, I went to high school at Central High School (go Tigers!!!). The school's color was orange and it actually consumed my entire closet when I was in high school and I think my love for orange began. Look I even got Haley loving orange (okay so I don't think she had a choice but coincidence? I think NOT! We'll call it fate.).

I look fabulous in hunter orange!My entire wedding was themed around burnt orange and even my dress had orange in it! Now that's some dedication to the color orange, don't you agree?

But my love for orange doesn't stop there...my car is orange, I heart orange Gatorade, I love oranges (the fruit), I have some orange paper sitting on my desk at work now...okay, maybe I'm stretching it but you get the idea, right?

So tell me...what is your signature color?

11 Weeks of Insanity...

...Monday started my 11 weeks of insanity AKA my busy time at work. The summer is always a stressful time for me and its easy to fall off the wagon and have a morning Mountain Dew and cookies for breakfast but I'm telling myself that I will NOT do that this year! I have decided my drink of choice for this summer will be...FUZE!!! Love that stuff!!! My half is 10 days away then I'm going to take a week off and start a new training program so hopefully that will break up my days a bit and keep me from the Dew and cookies.

I promise I'm going to try to continue to post as often as I am because I know that each of you out there would be lost without my daily ramblings, right? I'm also going to apologize if I don't comment quite so often or if my comments are lame...I promise I'm reading but being on call from 6:30am-6pm really puts a time constraint on what you can and can't do.

So please leave me a note now and let me know what you're doing this summer so I can live vicariously through you. While you're enjoying your pina coladas just remember I'm still here in MO losing my sanity and probably having my hair turn white!

What a Saturday...

...wow! I did more this past Saturday than I have all my May Saturdays combined! As you can tell from the post yesterday, I started my day off at the zoo for Luke's plaque dedication. Then I headed into Kirkwood to meet Katie for lunch at Dewey's. I love catching up with her and talking our wonders away. I really had to "twist her arm" into walking across the street with me to McArthur's. We each got a piece of Ooey Gooey Cake for dessert and I brought Matt a brownie that he described as "amazing."

I headed home for a quick outfit change then headed out to Sugar Creek Winery for my college roommate's bridal shower. HOLY MOLY!!! There were like hundreds (okay like 100-150) people there and I only knew her, her mom and our other college roommate, Shelley, who I hadn't seen since 2006 (FYI-she looked the exact same and I mean that in a good way). So every girl in a white dress, veil or pink sash I'd walk towards staring at her. Then I passed the main house and wouldn't you know that the custodian that just retired was sitting there enjoying a glass of wine! I stopped and chatted with him for a minute as he told me how "difficult" retirement was and then he actually pointed me in the right direction of the shower. Whew!

Can I just say that even in the 90 degree weather this was probably the best and most fun bridal shower I've ever been to? And no, it wasn't the wine...I only had one glass. First off aside from everyone's personalized wine glass, we all got our own hot pink hand-held fan!?! It was PERFECT for the hot, hot day!

We all chatted and turns out Aunt Vicky knows hubs' fam really well. She went on to tell me that she saw Matt holding the twins on FB and I told her, "Aunt Vicky! Those were my pictures!!!" Talk about a small world, huh? She also told me about the one day she agreed to babysit my BIL Daniel and I told her I was sorry, she laughed and said so was she!

After chatting, wine tasting and food (delicious cupcakes from the Cupcakery-it was my day of STL bakeries, wasn't it?), we played a few games. You just have to know Kim and this is probably why we got along so great when we lived together but she always has an explanation, and a crazy one at that, for everything! We played this game called, "Would you rather..." and it was crazy questions like, "Would you rather live in a giant comfy nest or in a burrow underground?" Of course, Kim picked a burrow because we all know that she's deathly afraid of birds. So they were fun, silly questions but if you knew Kim well then you could guess what she would pick.

Before I headed home for another outfit change, we snapped a picture of the old college girls of 31-06. L to R: Me, Kim and Shelley
After a 30 minute drive back to St. Peters, a 20 minute wait in the sobriety checkpoint (yes, I passed although I almost couldn't find my registration and the copper had to help me), another outfit change, I met up with the girls again at Trailhead to start her bachelorette party. I said my good byes and gave them my well wishes after dinner as I headed back home. Whew! What a day, I was exhausted and I slept in until 8am on Sunday-that's like SUPER late for me.

Side note: Funny when I started this post, I didn't think I'd have much to say and now that I'm finished I realize you guys will probably just skim it because its so long!

St. Louis Zoo Crossing Bridge...

...Saturday morning I headed to the St. Louis Zoo. Nine years and 4 days ago, a son, brother and child was killed by a drunk driver on a field trip with his class. I am so lucky to have this boy's mother be a part of my life. Angie was with her son, Luke, and his classmates when a drunk driver sped down the street outside the St. Louis Zoo and onto the sidewalk where he took Luke's life. His classmates, his mother, the other parents, and everyone in Angie and Luke's life had their world turned upside down on that May afternoon in 2001.

Almost nine years later, the zoo along with federal grant money and funds from Wachovia have decided to make the zoo a safer place so that no parent would have to take their child to the zoo in fear for their safety. This past Saturday, a wonderful plaque dedication ceremony was put on and I think Luke helped us out with the gorgeous weather that made a surprise appearance after a week of rain, rain, rain.
The weather has put the bridge process a little behind so it's not quite done but its pretty close. Luke's family were the first people to walk across the bridge and his classmates from the field trip were right behind them still showing their love and support. I think this picture pretty much sums up everything. A mother who has endured so much but has never given up the fight. Angie is a member of M.A.D.D. and helped to get the bridge at the zoo. So the next time you see this plaque after you safely cross the bridge and are about to enjoy a fun-filled day at the zoo, take a minute to say a prayer for Luke and Angie and the rest of his family and friends because not a day goes by that he isn't thought about and missed.
Angie, thank you for letting me be a part of this dedication and thank you for all your support and encouragement in my running endeavors. You truly are an inspiration for so many reasons and to so many people.

Family Friday...

...this past Tuesday, Matt and I grilled up porksteaks & chicken and took them over to Jeff and Josie's house. Their family has been coordinating people taking them dinner since they just had the twins PLUS the two older boys! Josie had a mother-daughter thing to go to so when we arrived, Jeff answered the door with both the girls and the two boys running around going crazy. I could tell he was waiting for me to take one so I took Miss Sophie who was wide awake and checking everything out. Let me tell you, it was kind of difficult to get plates, forks, cups out while holding a baby and trying to feed a family! Since it was nice out and the boys had already eaten, we decided to eat outside so that the boys could run around while we ate dinner.

Here is the one and only shot I got of the entire night, like I said babies, boys (both little and big) are a handful! This is oldest brother Cody with little sis Sophie:

I was definitely impressed with Jeff's skills as he took care of both the babies and the boys, he's got the whole double feeding thing down. Matt and I watched the girls and did the dishes while Jeff put the boys, well attempted to put the boys to bed. I think it was a little harder since we were there and they were showing off a little bit.

Matt did a decent job as well. He played tball with the boys while Jeff fed the girls and I cleaned up dinner. We were each holding a baby while Jeff read the boys a bedtime story and when Miss Sophie got a little squirmy and fussy, he kept shooting me "Help!" looks. When I asked if she was wet, he shrugged as though he didn't have a clue...I think he did, he just didn't want to change her diaper!

So anyways, the girls are officially one month old and still as cute as can be. It was fun to visit with their whole family, just missed momma Josie. I hope they enjoyed dinner and they've got PLENTY of leftovers!!! Have a great weekend everyone!

An Award!!!

...many thanks to Slam Dunk for the following awards! Slam is the only male reader of mine so the fact that he sticks with my blog despite my ramblings about bras, blisters and the girl doctor and sometimes uh...not so nice things to say about the opposite sex (i.e. my husband), I really appreciate his loyalty and comments.

This is the Happiness Award! To accept it, I must list 10 things that make me happy.
1. Hearing my niece's happy voice when she sees me and says, "Sissy!!!"
2. Hanging out with some of our favorite friends who keep us laughing for hours.
3. Cardinals baseball!!!
4. Having a good run, sweating a lot and not being out of breath!
5. Elvis Pretzely (I'm pretty sure this makes every happy list of mine!)
6. Emma laying her head on my shoulder when we're headed to bed.
7. Meeting up with girlfriends and both of us talking non-stop in fragments but totally understanding what the other is saying.
8. Fuze-peach mango-yum!
9. Comments!!!
10. Buying the perfect gift for someone and seeing their reaction when they open it (seems out of place in May but I have a picture from Christmas at my desk so that's what made me think of that one!).

I also got the Sugar Doll Award from him, yes someone out there in Blog Land thinks Slam Dunk is a Sugar Doll...wonder what his wife thinks of that, hmmm???

So now I'm going to tag five people to pass both these awards along to. Please tag the person who gave you the award (ME!) and then pass it on to 5 people.

My five:

1. Christy at Where I Am -super proud of her for finishing her first ever 5k!

2. Stephany at Stephany Writes-I feel like I can award her again, since her semester is over! Woohoo!!!

3. Adie at Almost Perfect-my blog BFF!!!

4. Hello Cupcake-I love the photo thing she's doing, go check it out!

5. Love, Imagine, Create-new blogger to me but she had me crackin' up at the thought of someone running with a pretzel in their hand!

The Running Outfit...

...okay so the half is less than 20 days away so I need to focus on what I'm going to wear!?! I know this sounds ridiculous BUT let's be honest here people, I'm a big girl...I have big boobs, big thighs, big butt so I have to find just the right outfit! I also suffer from "Chub Rub" this is where your legs rub together and leave a painful rash SO I typically run in capris but being that it's going to be on June 5 (hot hot hot) and 13.1 miles I figured I should find some shorts. Here are the two outfit options.

Wal-Mart: I like the top of this one because it is razor back which means cooler on my back but it is kind of skin tight when I wear it. When I got home though I tried on the bottoms and they are actually capris-grrr!
Target: Dry-fit top and bottom. Top is nice and doesn't cling to my body like the other shirt and it's very light. I'm just worried that I'll end up shoving the sleeves up my sports bra so it isn't hanging on my shoulders. Bottoms: now these are actually shorts that go to my knees, perfect for chub rub. Hubs denies that I have a panty line when I wear them or that I look super fat in them but I'm not 100% confident in them. OH! The shirt does cover my pooch(how I got lucky enough to have a pooch that looks like I've had a child even though I don't, I have no idea!)I also bought the off-brand wicking socks at Target and Wal-Mart (not to be confused with Air-Wick air freshener). The one thing I hate about these socks is one always gets lost in the laundry, without a doubt, it disappears to the laundry gnome. I wore a pair on my run on Saturday, stood at the washer, took them off and put them directly into the wash. Moved them all to the dryer then took everything out and can only find one!?! I picked up every piece of clothing and went through it and it's gone. This is so annoying!!! Grrr...

I'm pretty sure that I'm going to go with the Target outfit but please feel free to leave me your comments. And no, I won't try them on and take pictures for you-I mean I do WANT you to come back and keep reading!!!