Weekend Updates

These last 2 weekends have been sooooooo nice and relaxing...and I must say...I NEEDED it!!!!!  I feel like life has been breezing by me lately because of all the catch up I've been playing after tax season, and it was sooooo nice to just put away the "to do list" and enjoy life!

Two Fridays ago, we attended a surprise birthday party for our friend, Amber, who turned the big 3-0!  She swears she suspected something before this happened, but we almost ruined the surprise when we pulled up at the same time as the guest of honor!  Oops!  Darn traffic!!!!!

Saturday morning I was up bright and early for the Country Music Half Marathon...I headed to meet up with my co-workers and we were off to the start line.  

Once I found my corral, I settled in for the LOOONG wait to actually start the race.  Thank goodness I had Laura and Sarah to keep me company.

Finally, the race began and I started running at a pretty good pace.  I was doing my run/walking pretty well, but it was HOT!  I think the race went pretty well for me...I didn't have nearly as much knee pain as I did last year, I ran/walked the first 10 miles, walked the next 2.5 and ran the last .6 miles of the race, which is way better than I did last year.  Also, despite the heat, I actually FELT good at the finish line, which is wayyyyy better than last year.  The only thing that wasn't better than last year was my time...I finished the race in 3:02:51, which is almost 2 minutes slower than 2011's race.  I was a little disappointed in that, until I heard of SO many people who had ran 10-15 minutes slower than their previous year's time.

Before I go any further and show pics of the fun event, I MUST give a huge shout out to my sweet, sweet beau.  Not only did he meet me at 2 different stops and the finish line, he also kept up with the camera and took lots of pictures, made a sign to show his support, and had plenty of water and Gu waiting for me each time he saw me.  AND, he did all of this while toting sweet Zoey around, too!  He's such a good fiance and always supports me in everything I do!  I'm a lucky girl!

I also have to give a shout out to 2 of my co-workers, Sandy and Leslie!  They always run the CMM every year, but this year they decided to do the Flying Pig Half Marathon in Cincinnati the next weekend, so instead of running this year, they rode their bikes all over town to cheer all of us that work together on throughout the race!  It was so nice of them to do that!

Me with my beau at Mile 5.5!

My cute sign!

Me as I was crossing the finish line!

Me with my metal after the race!

A close-up of the metal!

After the race, I indulged in some yummy Chinese buffet and then I spent the rest of the afternoon taking a nap!  Later that evening, Patrick and I headed to a Couples Stock the Bar party for our friends, Anna Lea and Wes who are getting married in June.  It was a fun night, and I paid for it the next morning!

We still managed to get out of bed in time for church, then we went to lunch at Sloco, then we went back home to relax some more before kickball!  We won our 3rd kickball game in a row and then followed that up with dinner at M. L. Rose with the team!

This weekend actually started on Wednesday for me!  We loaded up the car, said goodbye to our sweet doggy (who we knew was in good hands with our friend, Laura) and headed out on our Southeastern United States tour.  Our first stop:  Knoxville to stay the night with my parents and to get to visit with Sweet Kennedy and her mama, Andi.  I knew that she looked like the sweetest baby on the planet, but now after meeting her, I'm sure of it!  Such a sweet girl...she was awake most of the time we were there and we had a great time holding her!

Since we were already in North Knoxville, we decided to head over to Litton's for a yummy burger!

That evening, all of my family piled in the car and headed to Columbia, SC to spend the night, so we would be there bright and early to celebrate my sister's graduation!  More to come on that later in the week, but I have to say:  WAY TO GO LAURA!!!!!

After lunch with the fam on Friday, Patrick and I said our goodbyes and headed off toward Atlanta, GA.  We stayed downtown at the Hilton Atlanta, and after checking into our hotel, we headed to the nearest Trader Joe's and stocked up on wine for the wedding!

Who knew the trunk of this car could hold so much wine?!?!?!?!

Next we had dinner at a yummy Mexican restaurant and then called it a night.  Saturday morning, we headed to Ikea, which was pretty much the most amazing thing EVER!  I had never been and now I can't wait to go back!  Before heading out of town, we stopped at a really good whole in the wall restuarant called Heirloom Market BBQ that was so good...

No trip is complete with Patrick unless we try out some local BBQ!

Our lunchtime spread!

On our way back to Nashville, we decided it would be fun to have some people over to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.  So, that's exactly what we did...we had tacos, chips and salsa, Corona, and Margaritas!  The perfect fun relaxing night with friends!

Sunday was a day of relaxation and pool time...and THEN, we lost our first kickball game of the season...we were playing the only other team in the league that was 3-0 and despite the fact that they beat us, it was a very close game and I think we have a pretty good chance against them if we see them again in the playoffs!

After kickball, we wrapped up the weekend with a cookout at Alysia and Ed's house...

Again, I am so fortunate for such nice weekends lately...here's hoping they continue!